Keep Me Hanging On, So Contagiously
by thePhonyOversized
Summary: "I left the hunt." Her words still take me by surprise. I feel myself shake as her eyes peer right into my soul. "Don't make me regret it." She whispers into my ear. Her breath feels cold against my neck, and I shiver. Damn. She plays me so well.
1. Prologue: You're Kidding Me

_Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any of the characters. Or, basically, anything licensed that I'm not supposed to own in this story, I clearly don't own. Thank you for your time._

_BEWARE: RATED FOR LANGUAGE._

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PROLOGUE.

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**"You're kidding me."**

I say as I take a step closer to her. Thalia's blue eyes make my knees feel weak, but I stand tall. The words she just told me don't latch onto my brain. I need more information, more words—Hades, I just need to hear her say it one more time.

"I left the hunt."

Her words still take me by surprise.

"Oh," is all I could say after she said it for, maybe, the third time. "That's unexpected."

She shrugs. "I felt it was the right thing to do, I guess." She takes a step closer to me, looking me in the eyes, her gaze unwavering. I feel myself shake as her eyes peer right into my soul. "Don't make me regret it." She whispers into my ear. Her breath feels cold against my neck, and I shiver.

Damn. She plays me so well.

She smirks at my reaction and walks away. I try to call after her, but nothing comes out of my mouth except for a strangled choke. After a few more attempts at trying, I just give up. I hate it when my voice fails me right when I need it the most. I wish it would go away just when I'm about to say something stupid, inappropriate, or unnecessary—not at times like these.

Life's a bitch.

I take a few steps forward, easing into it until I can walk at a normal pace. Minutes pass by and I still haven't moved so far from where I stood before. I decide that walking is for suckers who don't have the King of the Underworld as their father and prepare to shadow travel.

And this fails me even more.

I shadow travel just a few inches away from the forest, when I grow tired and need to take a breath. It feels like I've shadow traveled for like a day or something, and usually—up to my usual standards—a day's worth of shadow traveling will have brought me to another state miles and miles away. I'm _definitely_ not up to my usual standards tonight. I blame it on Thalia and her unexpected news that sends me into an interior frenzy, causing me to move so slowly through the shadows tonight.

Stupid euphoria.

I stand up slowly to avoid wavering and just falling back down on my butt—like the first time I tried standing up after resting for so long. This time it's a success and I'm back on my feet, and walking. I consider running after Thalia, when I realize I have no idea where she went. I really have to start thinking these things through.

I pause for a moment and take a deep breath. I look up at the sky, and notice the moon shining really brightly tonight, way brighter than usual. I have no idea if the moon is giving me good news or bad news, but because I feel so uplifted right now, any kind of news would be good to me at this point. _Great_ news, though, would be a clue to Thalia's whereabouts. She couldn't have gone far, right? I mean—she was just here a few minutes ago.

Then again . . . how long have I been shadow traveling?

Fuck it. I'm so lost now, I'll just let fate bring her to me. I mean, fate's gotten her to leave the hunt, it's on a _roll_—it can't just stop now when I need it to roll a bit more for me.

Taking the deepest breath I can take, and gathering every last bit of energy I have left, I concentrate my mind on the location I needed to be—CAMP HALF-BLOOD.

_Camp, camp Nico, think camp, you need to go back to camp!_

I chant the mantra to myself over and over as I feel complete darkness engulf me, holding my breath and afraid to breathe, because my overwhelming emotions are getting in the way of my sanity. And when it's bye-bye sanity, it's bye-bye normal functioning body.

I swear—it's the age. My hormones are driving me insane.

I feel my feet touch solid ground—_hallelujah!_—and I open my eyes. I'm really thankful that fate decided to take my advice and just keep rolling, because luck is _definitely_ on my side tonight.

I'm in front of Cabin #13, in Camp Half-Blood. Home sweet home.

As I step in the door, I feel fate stop rolling and everything just comes crashing down. Literally. The ground shakes furiously and my cabin just crumbles, like it was made of some really crumby cake—it falls _that_ easily! I close my eyes and try to zone everything out, because it's just a dream and my cabin isn't crumbling right now. I probably fell asleep after shadow traveling and my brain is just playing tricks on me.

I take deep breaths as I slam my eyes shut. I wait a few minutes before opening them again, and thank the gods, when I do, I find myself inside my cabin, safe and sound. I'm lying on bed, my hair is probably a bird's nest—because it always is when I wake up. It comes with the awful morning breath and droopy, heavily bagged eyes—wait a minute.

I sit up from my bed and look around. A faint light penetrates through the tiny little square windows lined at the very top of the walls inside my cabin, and a splash of green light here and there because of the torches of Greek fire outside. I grab the watch I keep on the tiny table beside my bed and look at the time.

6:34 am.

What in Hades?

I get up from my bed, tossing the crumpled sheets off of me recklessly, and walk outside the door. I'm barefoot, and too lazy to go back and get my slippers, as I walk over to the Zeus cabin. I knock on the door loudly three times and wait. No one answers. I try again—and again—and again. Damn, still no answer.

I turn on my heel and march to the Artemis cabin, following the same procedure of loudly knocking and waiting a while before repeating. I do this over and over again, maybe seven more times, maybe even _seventeen_ more times, before I realize there isn't anyone inside.

What the fuck is happening? Thalia and the hunters were just here . . . last night . . . that was when Thalia brought me to the forest and told me she left the hunt, hopefully because of me . . . then I chickened out, hypothetically peed in my pants, and I didn't say anything when she walked away . . . then I tried to follow her but didn't know where the hell she went and then . . . my cabin began to crumble?

That doesn't make any sense.

But it _has_ to.

Or else, that means Thalia never told me anything.

Thalia was never here in the first place.

Holy mother of Hades, please, _no_.

I begin to sprint towards the only other person I can think of at this point. I feel pebbles, dirt, tiny rocks, and everything else that can be found on the ground stick on my bare feet, and very painfully at that. Gods, I hate this.

I run until I see Percy's cabin (because the kids of the Big Three—apparently nicknamed 'The Big Kids' by anonymous campers—have this unexplainable connection when it comes to one another), but I fail to slow down in time and crash right into the door. The good thing about this was that I didn't have to knock anymore, because that crash was as loud as crashes on doors could get.

I get up, cleaning the dust off my clothes, and doing the best I could to clean my already filthy feet, when Percy opens the door.

He looks just like me in the morning—bird's nest hair, droopy eyes with huge bags under them, a grouchy look on his face, and _horrible_ morning breath.

He yawns. "Nico, what the—"

"Percy," I breathe. "Was Thalia here yesterday?"

Percy looks at me disbelievingly, giving me an if-looks-could-kill-you'd-be-dead-right-now look, but it fails because . . . it never works if the person is sleepy, I guess.

"What—no—what're you talking about?" Percy spits.

"Oh, 'kay then . . . thanks," I mutter disappointedly.

Percy scratches his head furiously as he mumbles something incoherent, and then slams the door without another word.

Damn. She was never here; it was all just a dream.

But it felt so real . . .

Fuck. She plays me so well.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

For some reason, I just _had_ to write this story. I have no idea where I'm going with this, other than the fact that I'm basing it on the song "So Contagious" by Acceptance – though loosely.

And yup, this is a Thalico story, because I am just so obsessed with this couple and I love stories about them. But I wanna make this story different somehow, I just haven't figured out how to write it out yet, but I'm getting there. I'm gonna give this story depth, twists, and make sure the characters stay IC, and just overall, I don't want it to be some crappy teen-love story. So, let's just see where I go with this (:

I would love to hear what you guys think of this prologue! I promise, the other chapters will be longer, and more explanatory and stuff. Just wait and see ;]

- Schoe.


	2. One: So What Now?

_Insert disclaimer here._

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CHAPTER ONE.

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**So what now?**

I think to myself as I watch life pass me by. Seriously. I'm just sitting here, my back somehow comfortably leaning on the un-bulging portions of the climbing wall, pondering on what the hell I'm going to do with my life.

I retract one of my legs and bend it so my foot is flat on the ground, and I rest my elbow on it. I tap my fingers on the ground beside my other, still outstretched leg, and click my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I'm not so sure, but I think my ADHD gets even worse when I force myself to try and stay still.

I feel my foot begin to stomp rhythmically on the ground, switching from heel to toe, bouncing my elbow up and down.

Yup, I'm pretty sure it's getting worse by the second.

My mind starts racing as I try to search for something to do, not only regarding my life or anything that has to do with my future—because it gets pretty boring thinking of things to do for something that hasn't even happened yet—but, also, just something to do right at this moment. I've been sitting here since after breakfast, and I think I accidentally skipped lunch because I honestly haven't moved at all. Fine, maybe a few bathroom breaks—like four—but, technically, I've been a human statue.

"Nico."

I look up at the sound of my voice, arching my eyebrows up suspiciously because since I've got years of experience on my side, I know that when someone says my name sternly, somberly, or basically with no humorous tone _at all_, good news is the last thing you could expect.

"Percy." I try to imitate his tone, but I fail miserably as I fight back the urge to laugh while I say it. For someone who's come from a family who lives for, well, death and stuff (ironically enough), I virtually have no 'serious-function' programmed into my hard-drive.

I quirk my lips into what I _know_ is an awkward smile, but I keep it there until I feel the mood lighten up.

Percy chuckles. "Heads up." He tosses a paper bag at me.

"What's this?" I ask as I catch it, opening it hesitantly.

"Food," he declares. "You skipped lunch, so I just thought I'd give you some." He crouches down beside me.

"Right," I deadpan. "Thanks. You didn't cook this, did you?" I cock an eyebrow.

"Nope," he replies. I open the paper bag slightly wider and stick my head in a bit more to get a better look. "Grover did."

"Fuck—" I jerk my head back and slap the paper bag shut, scrunching up my nose and puffing up my cheeks as I hold my breath.

"Gods, Nico—chill—I'm just kidding!" Percy chuckles as he leans back, his palms digging the ground, and he slowly sits down.

I give Percy one of my 'death glares', but, unfortunately, I can't do it quite right. Note to self: spend ten more minutes in front of the mirror tonight.

I'm just kidding! I don't _really_ stare at the mirror for twenty, or occasionally more, minutes practicing my glares . . . _psh _. . .

"Just eat it before it gets too cold." He pushes the bag towards me.

I open it and quickly reach in for its contents. I take out what looks like a ball wrapped in tinfoil. Slowly, I peel of the top. I'm seeing bread with sesame seeds, vegetables—maybe lettuce, tomatoes . . .

"A cheeseburger?" I smirk at Percy.

"Hey, getting it practically cost me an arm and a leg!" Percy points at me accusingly. "If Chiron found out I snuck out of camp to buy you that, I'd be a dead man!"

"You would've died a martyr," I tease before biting into my burger. My taste buds tingle as the flavor explodes in my mouth, along with the heat trapped, because of the tinfoil, in the very core of the burger.

"Hmm, martyrdom _does_ sound like a pretty awesome way to die," he rubs his invisible pointy Confucius-beard, pretending like he's actually thinking about it.

"Future generations will forever talk about how you risked your life by sneaking out to buy a burger, only to be killed by a thousand-year-old pony because of your stubborn rebellion," I joke.

"A burger for a _friend_," he adds. "Risking lives for friendships always makes for great publicity."

"Sure." I take another bite of my burger. It was _delicious_! I haven't eaten a burger in so long, this tasted like heaven in my mouth—a heaven grilled with (real, not fake!) cheese that melts in your mouth, only to go together superbly with everything else in the burger. And bacon, for some reason, this burger has some bacon. But hey, I'm not complaining.

"You really love burgers, don't you?" Percy chuckles.

I nod, feeling my cheeks, which stretch further as I try to fit more and more of the burger into my mouth, bobble a little.

"You know who else loves burgers?" he asks casually. I look at him questioningly, arching my eyebrows up. He breathes deeply, as if trying to remember some distant memory.

"Thalia."

He shrugs as he says her name so calmly.

I, on the other hand, nearly spit out my cheeseburger and freeze.

Remember what I said about 'The Big Kids' having that special connection when it came to one another? Well, I hate it sometimes.

Sometimes includes now.

And now also includes Percy.

So I kinda hate Percy right now.

Go figure.

It took a whole lot of willpower to keep my mouth from dropping open and letting my burger spill out, but I managed, even if it was the only thing I was able to do.

"Whoa, Nico," Percy says, his mouth gaping stupidly because he's trying to piss me off. Damn it all, it was working! "I never knew you could get so red."

"Eat Persephone's flowers, Percy," I finally manage to cough out. And when I say 'cough' I _seriously_ mean cough. I think I'm actually becoming genuinely mute.

Percy laughs and pats my back. "Geez, Nico, I thought you had a sense of humor," Percy teases.

"Ha-ha," I laugh mockingly. I manage to sound normal enough now, but my voice is still a bit pitchy.

The thing with me is, I pretty much have only two versions—happy and the whole enchilada, blah blah blah; and pissed off, where my humor disappears completely and I become obstinate. Basically, I become my father. This is where the names of my two versions come in—my happy side is my 'Nico'-side and the other one is my 'Hades'-side.

Don't tell him I told you that though, he would flip out.

Anyway, back to my point.

So, pretty much every moment of everyday, I only have two versions that switch accordingly, depending on which one is more appropriate (well, more often than not, that's what happens).

BUT, if you mix Thalia in with any of the situations, my versions go haywire. I can't think straight. I can't function right and my mind just goes blank. She's like the virus in my software.

Hades, I seriously have to stop spending so much time with those Hephaestus kids.

And, basically, to hide all of those mixed feelings just bursting inside of me, I try to calm myself and avert my attention by acting chill, calm, and serious, and stuff. The chill and calm part is practically my usual self, so most people don't really notice when something's up. But those who know me, like Old McJackson over here, immediately know when something's off. It goes—'Holy Zeus! Nico is being serious!'—and then they try to get to the bottom of it. Just like that.

Sometimes, I hate having people who care so much.

"Why so serious?" Percy asks. His voice squeaks as he forces back his laughs to cough out the words.

I take another try at a death glare and this time, it feels a little more like a death glare than just an ordinary glare, or just ordinary . . . death?

Percy nudges me. I squirm farther away from him. "Alright, fine. Be that way. I don't care." He crosses his arms and turns his head away. I don't even bother to move.

After a short, deafening . . . and short silence, Percy turns back to me.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Nope," I answer honestly.

"Thalia?" he asks.

"Yup." I pop the 'p' at the end.

"Damn," he breathes.

The upside about 'The Big Kids' connection we have, we don't need long sentences. We just get it. It may have taken a while to get it right, but at least I have someone who gets what I'm trying to say without me really saying it. It's just what I need right now, honestly.

"Which one?" he asks.

"She left the hunt," I say.

"Again?"

"Twice in a row." I sigh.

"You sure you haven't eaten anything nasty before you slept that might've triggered it?" he suggests.

"Positive," I reply. "I haven't eaten anything Grover's touched in two years."

"Since the 'Spicy Tuna incident'?" He laughs.

"I've never looked at sandwiches, burritos, tortillas, enchiladas and tacos the same way again." I laugh.

"But you still love burgers." He chuckles.

"I still love burgers," I repeat.

Percy sighs. "Well then," he says as he slowly stands up, wobbling awkwardly because it's almost never comfortable to crouch for more than three minutes, and even less comfortable to stand up afterwards. He looks down at me, because I'm still leaning on the climbing wall with a burger at hand.

"You coming?" he asks.

"Where to, exactly?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Wherever we need to go, I guess. I don't really know."

I laugh. "Maybe next time. Thank you, though," I mumble the last part.

"You're welcome." He chuckles. "Just make sure you're not here in ten minutes, or I'm coming back with reinforcements."

"Annabeth?" I cock an eyebrow.

"Grover's cooking." He sticks his tongue out.

I cringe just thinking about it. "Deal," I say.

"Awesome." He waves goodbye then runs off to Zeus-knows-where, leaving me here to ponder about more things.

Like . . . how much I want to finish my reunion with my beloved cheeseburger, how much I miss Thalia, how mosquitoes shouldn't even exist, all the times I've dreamt of Thalia, how not even cooking lessons with the elites could teach Grover how to cook, how even one little mention or thought of Thalia sends a million butterflies fluttering in my stomach . . .

I grunt as I slap another mosquito trying to suck me dry. Fuck mosquitoes. Fuck the heat. Fuck Thalia. Fuck the burger I can't even fucking finish anymore. You know what, _fuck __the world_. It's what's keeping me alive in this mess that is 'my life' anyway. Oh, and, _fuck Thalia_.

I adjust my position a bit so both my hands can grab a portion of the climbing wall, then push myself up. I feel the rocks digging into my back and I resist the urge to wince in pain. I really should've thought this through.

Once I'm on my feet, I push myself from the wall and try to massage my back a bit. After realizing that you can't really massage yourself, I try to shrug it off, place my hands in the pockets of my gray hoodie—which is really comfortable and soft, by the way. Grandma Demeter got it for me last Christmas after she said how much she detested the overuse of my Aviator jacket . . . which isn't the point here—and start walking.

I keep walking, staring blankly into space, until I'm pulled out of my reverie by a thick, marble post that rams straight into my face.

"Oww," I whine, rubbing the lump on my forehead, which I know will become a bruise tomorrow.

I step back to see the cause of my to-be-bruise and gape. "What in Hades—" I say as I realize just which cabin, of all the damn cabins, I managed to meander off to.

I really hate clichés.

I spin on my heel, trying to turn away from the Zeus cabin, but I can't seem to take any more steps when my back is turned. I face it once more, walking forward a bit, until I'm just a step away from mounting the steps.

"Styx," I curse under my breath. I climb the stairs and take a seat on the highest one. I rest my elbows near my knees and slump my back. I bet I look really 'emo' right now.

It's probably because I really am.

I purse my lips and sigh one more time. Maybe I should've gone with Percy. That would've helped me more than wallowing in self-pity on the steps of Cabin #1, because moping never fixed anything.

Unfortunately, much like a while ago with the climbing wall, I find myself glued to the spot. I'm transfixed here by all of the thoughts spinning inside my brain, and all the memories that seem to be resurfacing because of all the memories triggering them.

Why the hell do I keep dreaming about Thalia?

If I wasn't a demigod, these dreams could easily be the result of an obsession with the person—I AM NOT IMPLYING ANYTHING, I AM _NOT_ OBSESSED. But because I am, in fact, a demigod, each little thing in the dream could have some unknown hidden meaning gnawing at me.

At first I thought I was being ridiculous thinking that Thalia might be trying to communicate with me, but after dreaming of her so much and talking to Percy about it, we both decided that 'The Big Kids' connection was stronger than we thought, and that Thalia was really trying to tell me something. I just have no idea what, and why, and it's _killing_ me.

It's horrible, waking up from each dream, especially because I want her so much. Day and night, I practically spend most of my time wishing for her—to hear her voice again, to see her blue eyes again, Hades, even just a glimpse of her—and my dreams give that to me, until I wake up.

Just like John Mayer said—_"When you're dreaming with a broken heart, the waking up is the hardest part."_

I only come to my senses when I notice all of the campers rushing back into their cabins, their footsteps and laughter echoing in the darkness. Time developed a bad habit off passing by me today. Luckily, none of the campers give me a second look. I guess hanging out in the shadows so much does have its benefits.

Since I'm way too lazy to stand up and use the normal way of transportation, I close my eyes and try to shadow travel back inside my cabin.

I open my eyes to find that I've managed to screw up again and end up . . . not in my cabin. Instead, the cabin—hopefully I'm still within camp borders or else I'll be in some deep shit later on—I shadow traveled to was the complete opposite of mine. Its walls were a blend of light blue and white, making it look like you've somehow ended up in the clouds. There were bright streaks of lightning in the parts of the wall with a bit more gray.

Of course, the lightning bolts were a dead giveaway, but I only truly believed it when I saw the bed. It was bright blue, and painted on the walls above it was Zeus on his throne, wearing a bright gold clock around his neck.

Holy Hades. I'm in Cabin #1. El Cabin de Zeus-io.

I grin as I look around the parts I suspect they left untouched for Thalia's sake. Her old army jacket hung on one of the bedposts, surprisingly clean—aside from the dust it collected over the years, but still.

I decide to stop being such a creeper and make for the door, and only realize my stupidity when I turn the doorknob and it doesn't budge.

Of course it's locked. No one's supposed to be in here, so why should they worry about someone needing to get out?

I plop on the floor, lean on the cold walls, and snap my eyes shut. I open my eyes and see cloudy walls instead of just black. I turn my head and close my eyes again. I open them once more, unfortunately, just to see a bright blue bed, a giant Zeus above it with his bright golden clock-necklace instead of my nice gray sheets and bedside table that has my new green T-Rex clock (it glows in the dark, it's cool).

I look down, but I don't bother to close my eyes anymore. Instead, I just stare into blank space. I feel myself slowly drift away . . .

I only stir when I feel Thalia's pokes shock my cheeks, but I keep my eyes closed as the ecstasy of her lips above mine consumes me.

Wait—

What?

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Thank you so much for all the support I got from the prologue! I didn't know something so short would get so much feedback, so it really meant so much to me!

As promised, a longer chapter! I know, there isn't much Thalico action here, just Nico wallowing over the broken heart he's ended up with after falling in love with Thalia, who is practically the world's most unattainable girl, but I still hope you liked it! I have to admit, this wasn't the first chapter I was expecting, but then again, I wouldn't want this story to be predictable in any way, so if it's unpredictable even with it's author... that's good, right?

My internet is being a bitch now, so until we get it fixed, I'm forced to use my desktop with its mood swings and refusal to let me place any breakers, so I'll have to add them later on, probably when I go to my grandma's house - yes, ironic right? My grandmother has better internet than I do :O BOTH OF THEM! The world is mean. Hahahaha!

I'm not so sure, but Percy might be OC a bit, because I had to make him this way to fit into the story. The only characters that _have_ to be really IC are Nico and Thalia anyway, right? Hehehe.

Reviews are loved (: along with ideas, feedback, and comments on how much you love Thalico, because it makes my day to find that I've somehow converted someone into Thalico-ism.

_Sincerely _- Schoe!

PS. Along with "So Contagious", I've made "Addicted" by Simple Plan one of the "theme" songs for this story. Works, right? [ I do not own any of these songs ]


	3. Two: Sweet Mother of Hades

_La advertencia va aquí, porque estoy en un barco_.

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CHAPTER TWO.

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**Sweet Mother of Hades.**

My brain stops functioning as she slowly pulls away to take a breath. I open my eyes a bit so I can peek at what's in front of me. I need to know if it's really her k-ki-kis—_showing affection_ to me right now. I need to know that I'm not just hallucinating due to some lovesick puppy disease that I don't know about but am experiencing nevertheless. Not that I _am_ a lovesick puppy. This is all very much hypothetically speaking.

When I open my eyes, I find that my fucking eyelashes obscure everything I see. The only thing that seems to penetrate the barrier of blackness my eyelashes have created is the color blue—a shade so electrifyingly familiar it sends shivers down my spine. They're the same color as Thalia's eyes, and this is the only thing I can see with this little peek.

Holy Styx.

I'm pretty sure the wall didn't have that kind of blue—

So, even though I decided against this a while ago, I open my eyes completely. My vision is blurry because I'm just so damn sleepy, and all I can see are blobs of colors, two of the blobs being that familiar shade of blue. I snap my eyes shut again, rub them with my hands, and open them again.

Gods. I wonder how red I am right now.

I wonder how red I'm gonna get after this.

Turns out, those familiar blue-colored blobs that remind me of Thalia's eyes _are_ Thalia's eyes, and apparently standing right in front of me right now is the aforementioned. I sure hope I'm not hallucinating.

She lets out a breathy laugh and smiles, and that makes me loose it. I cup her face in my hands and pull her so close I can feel her hot breath on my face. I grin as I feel her breath slowly grow spasmodic as she tries to regain her composure after my sudden clamp-and-pull.

"Are you really?" I whisper. I can't seem to form competent sentences right now.

"Maybe." She chortles.

When I feel her lean back slightly, I pull her face even closer to mine, completely erasing the gap between us. I finally have her—I wasn't letting her go now, not without a fight.

Her fingers rake my hair and grab onto the strands forcefully, and her other hand caresses my cheek. I smile against her lips and wrap my arms around her waist to hold her tighter, and to pull her closer. Then—

"Aww, shit!" I curse as I pull away from her. My hand flies to the cheek she was caressing a moment ago, rubbing it gently to soothe the fresh, new burns. "Did you just _shock_ me?" I ask, still flabbergasted, and still pretty much in pain.

She cackles. "Sorry." She leans in closer and pecks my burnt cheek. I smile despite the pain I get when I move my cheek.

"So . . . what're you doing here?" I ask her.

She shrugs and looks around. I begin to wonder if she's looking around the cabin, reminiscing about the days when she lived in camp like the rest of us, when I realize something.

Even through my brain is still woozy and my eyes can't focus on anything but the girl in front of me, I still remember how the feeling of cold marble against my fingertips feel, and—surprise! When I rested my hand on the 'floor' a few seconds ago, I didn't feel smooth, cold, and polished; I felt grainy, dusty, and rough.

That's when it hit me like an epiphany . . . probably because it _was_ an epiphany.

"Where—" I stammer.

"Are we? In a desert a little ways away from Arizona." She smiles mischievously at me. "Obviously not Camp Half-Blood."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that," I say. "I thought we were in the Zeus Cabin."

She shrugs. "Maybe we were, maybe we weren't. But right now, we're in Arizona."

She stands up and holds out her hand. I mindlessly take it, and she pulls me—no, more like _yanks_ me up.

I brush the sand off my pants and look at her. "What in Hades' name are we doing in Arizona?"

"Well, I have no idea why _you_ are here, but the Hunters are on a mission," she says. She places her hand above her stomach and rubs a circle around it. "I'm hungry, wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Umm," I drawl as I feel my stomach growl. "Sure. Where though? We're in the middle of nowhere."

She smirks. "You tell me, Ghost Boy. I thought getting out of the middle of nowhere was your specialty."

"More like getting _stuck_ in the middle of nowhere," I joke.

I chuckle nervously at my own joke, but she just stares at me stone-faced.

"Fine, fine, I'll be serious now." I hold out my hand.

She takes it, and whispers, "I think there's a gas station a few blocks away from here."

"Awesome. Now close your eyes and brace yourself."

She turns away and does as I say. I take a deep breath and slowly close my eyes, focusing on the nearest place with food besides a house or any private place we might get arrested in for popping up unexpectedly. I feel her grip tighten around mine as the darkness pulls us in and eats us up.

I only open my eyes again when my feet hit the ground, and Thalia's cursing and toppling over shakes me awake. I mean, she dragged me down with her, who wouldn't wake up?

"Dammit," she says over and over. "I swear to Zeus, Nico, have I ever told you how much I _hate_ shadow traveling?" she screams.

"Not enough," I reply.

"Agh, I'm so hungry, I could eat a—a—" she whines.

"A minotaur?" I suggest.

"You know what, I could eat a '_you'_," she snaps before marching off ahead of me.

"Mm, delicious," I mutter sarcastically.

Note to self: never bring a girl shadow traveling when she's PMSing—it only makes them cross over to the 'dark side'.

Hahaha, get it?

"NICO!"

"Coming!" I screech as I take huge strides to catch up to her.

We pass by a gas station—because I got it right this time—and there we find these two big buff thug dudes wearing muscle-hugging leather jackets that look like they're about to rip, and a skinny girl with way too much eyeliner and not enough clothing in between them, staring right at us. Thalia glares at them, and the two dudes back off. I chuckle, but stop when I see one of them noticed me and looked like he wanted to chew my head off, and since he was HUGE, he probably could.

I start walking faster when the girl whistles at me. I turn around and see her lick her lips and wink at me. I cringe my face and take a step back in shock.

Disturbed, I glance at Thalia. She's way ahead of me and hasn't looked back once. Probably wasn't going to any time soon too.

I spin on my heel and begin to follow her when I feel someone grip my shoulder and spin me back round, then I find myself face to face with the same face that disturbed me just a while ago.

She takes a step closer to me, her hands lingering on my bicep.

"Hey," she says, still inching closer to me. I try to move back, but she just pulls me back and moves even closer.

"Uhh, hey," I say back, contemplating on ways to somehow get out of this. I glance at the two dudes with her before. They still haven't moved, but are looking at me murderously right now.

_Damn it!_

"I haven't seen you around here before," she says. She's inched so close to me her legs are in between mine. I think my legs are going to become claustrophobic after this, if that's even possible. "Are you new?" She licks her lips again, and keeps her head dangerously close to my neck. For some reason, I'm starting to think she's a vampire and is about to make me 'one of them' anytime soon.

I wonder if becoming a vampire hurts . . .

"Um, well—" I start to think 'what the hell am I supposed to say to that?' when my savior swoops in and saves me.

Thalia grabs my wrist and pulls me away. "Sorry, he doesn't date whores."

The girl glares at Thalia, still trying to inch back towards me. "I'm not a whore."

"Sorry, my bad," Thalia says, laughing so sarcastically, 'obnoxious' would be an understatement. "He doesn't date sluts either."

Thalia was just about to turn around and drag me with her while she walked away—which by the way, I wouldn't really mind—when the raccoon girl struts over and pushes her.

Big mistake.

"What d'you say, you little bitch?" the girl shouts.

"You heard me," Thalia snaps back. "Either that or you're just _that_ stupid."

The girl lunges for Thalia, but she isn't fast enough. Thalia pokes a pressure point, probably shocking her a bit—or a lot—too, and she staggers back, gasping for dear air.

"That all you got?" Thalia laughs. She looks at the two thugs, who still haven't moved. "'Bout you two buffoons?"

They both shake their heads frantically. For big buff guys, they sure were a bunch of pussies.

I chuckle.

"I thought so." Thalia smirks.

She tightens her grip around my wrist and drags me inside the little diner beside the gas station, _Antonito's_.

We make our way over to the booths and manage to grab one in between a big fat guy and his crater-faced best friend pigging it out with burgers and beers, and a stressed looking woman in a wrinkled up suit, constantly shouting at the phone practically glued to her ear, doing yesterday's crossword puzzle—and badly, at that.

We take seats across from each other. I find myself amusingly staring at the little advertisement for milkshakes in the middle of the table when a small and scrawny balding man approaches us. I inch away from the edge of the table discreetly, because I don't want his smelly and dirty apron touching my favorite jacket (and Grandma Demeter would kill me if I got it dirty anyhow).

"What can I get for you two?" he asks us with a voice way too high-pitched and jolly for his overall demeanor.

Thalia looks at me, mouthing, "What do you want?"

I shrug and tell her to pick for me.

She orders two cheeseburgers and two regular Cokes.

"So," I begin awkwardly. "You said the Hunters are on a mission?"

"Classified, Nico, you know that." She smiles mischievously.

"I wasn't going to ask about that," I say. "I was just wondering . . . why aren't you with them right now? I mean—you _are_ the Lieutenant."

Thalia laughs. "I'm not _really_ here you know."

"What?" I ask her disbelievingly.

"Nico!" she leans forward and lightly punches my shoulder. "When did you become so slow?"

"I'm _sorry_, it's just—I haven't seen you in ages and I'm just so happy that I get to spend some time with you right now, then you go and tell me you aren't really here."

Her forehead meets her palm with a slight collision.

"_What?_" I ask whiningly.

"If you wake up and just mope around again tomorrow, I swear to the gods, I will kill you."

"So I'm _dreaming_?" I ask.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"But it all feels so real—"

"As did all the other dreams," she intercepts me.

I fall silent.

So does she.

Smelly McBalding Pants comes with our orders with a grunt. I mean it's 'service with a scowl' now anyway, right?

She takes a bite from her burger. I attack my drink first. I chug half of my drink in one sip.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask her.

She widens her eyes and looks at me.

"I mean, why do you keep visiting my dreams? What exactly are you trying to tell me?" I ask her, poking my burger with a soggy French fry.

She laughs, nearly spits out her burger, and then swallows what was in her mouth without chewing. She slurps her cola and shrugs. "I didn't think it would take you this long to figure it out."

I just look at her.

She laughs.

"We're playing hide-and-seek, Nico. The only difference is, I actually _want_ you to find me. Get it?"

I shake my head.

She leans forward and smacks my head. "You're an idiot." She sits back down and takes another bite from her burger.

"Wait," I cough out. "So that means you're in Arizona right now?"

She shrugs. "The Hunters are on a classified mission. But it isn't anyone's fault if you run in to us while you're on a quest for camp, right?" She smirks.

I nod, finally taking a bite. "True, true."

She laughs. "You figure out the rest."

"I hate riddles," I tease.

"I hate _you_," she teases back.

"Aw, too bad, I don't feel the same way," I say.

"Whatever." She sticks her tongue out. "I know."

I nod. "Sure you do."

Ha, if only she knew just how much I lo-lov—_didn't hate_ her.

"Wait," I say.

"Hm?"

"Everything in this dream is like a manifestation of everything happening and will happen in reality eventually, right?" I ask her. "I mean, for demigods."

"I guess so."

I smirk. "So, then who's that girl you snapped at?"

She shrugs. "She kind of reminds me of Allison."

"That Nemesis girl who joined you guys like, a year ago? _She_ has the hots for me?"

"Pbffft," she chokes on her cola.

I guffaw.

"Gods, you're such a mother-fucking asshole," she says as she wipes her mouth with her napkin.

She tries to hold in a laugh. "Yes, that Nemesis girl who joined a _few months_ ago."

"Ahaha, my bad," I chuckle halfheartedly.

"And I'm in no position to tell you, a male, which of the Hunters has 'the hots' for you. Honestly," she shakes her head, chortling softly.

"Sure you are, Lieutenant Grace." I wink. She scoffs at me. "You can tell me you love me if you want, you know."

"In your dreams, Corpse Brain." She snickers.

"Wait—wait—" I say, raising my hands up stupidly because I know it pisses her off. "—we _are_ in my dreams! Wow, who woulda known?" I gape at her dumbly. "You going to admit it or do I have to get you to by force?" I grin.

"Bring it, di Angelo."

And right on cue, there's a loud ear-splitting shriek and the ground begins to shake. A huge crack splits the ground, and it's slowly nearing us. I look at Thalia, begging her with my eyes to kiss me one last time before we both have to go. She smiles at me and leans forward. Holy Styx, this is it—

"Get out of my cabin, Nico." She smirks one last time then slaps me, zapping me as well in the process.

"Fuck it," are the first words that escape my mouth when I wake up. My head is rested on the cloudy walls, and I graze my fingers on the floor just to make sure I'm really here, and confirm it when I feel the cold marble on the tips of my fingers.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

I glance at the big golden clock around Zeus' neck.

4:37 am.

I close my eyes and focus on my cabin, feeling the darkness pull me in once again as I shadow travel. And only one other thought crosses my mind as I do so—_Thalia called me Nico._

_

* * *

_

**REVIEW!**

_* 11-7-2010: I originally wrote out Allison to be mentioned as the 'daughter of Prometheus', then I realized that Prometheus wasn't a minor greek god, but a Titan, so I made her a 'daughter of Nemesis' instead, because Nemesis was the first minor greek god that popped in my head, and it kind of fits... Hahaha. Oh, and I almost made her a 'daughter of Asclepius' too._

If you're wondering about the disclaimer...

1) It's in Spanish because I have to do my Spanish homework right now, but I refuse to; and

2) Because my classmates got me starting all over again during our field trip recently, I'm obsessed with "I'm On A Boat" by the Lonely Island, featuring T-Pain (I don't own this!). Yes, I do the dirty version, the clean one is too sweet for me.

Thank you so much for all the support I got for the first two chapters! It really means a lot to me (: And I'm sorry if Nico is whiney, and if he just goes on and on and on... about Thalia. But, I mean, you can't blame him right? The girl he loves is God knows where and he can't even be with her because she's sworn to eternal virginity - so yes, I just realized, because of their oath, a Hunter does die a virgin.

To all those who read it, I also updated my other story, "Til' Hell Starts To Freeze"! So if you haven't read it yet... I guess, read it! And don't forget to review!

I seriously don't know where I'm going with this story, but honestly, I think I like it so far. It's spontaneous (: But ideas for this story are more than welcome, so feel free to give some!

_Yours, from a boat_ - Schoe P:

PS. I've always wanted to crowd-surf. I wonder if it's fun.. HMM.


	4. Three: Arizona?

_Here is where the disclaimer is inserted._

* * *

CHAPTER THREE.

* * *

"**Arizona?"**

Percy gapes at me, his eyes so wide you would've thought I grew another head or something.

I smile awkwardly then nod.

"Wait—wait—wait—" Percy raises his hands, signaling me to stop, and shakes his head. He ruffles his hair. He looks _very_ confused. "Did I just hear you right? Did you really just say that you need to go on a quest out of camp to Arizona because the Hunters are there _right now_?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself." I laugh nervously.

"And you know all this because Thalia visited you in a dream?" He clarifies.

"I thought you would've gotten it the second time, but seven's a lucky number, right?" I joke.

Percy just looks at me with a stone-face.

How come no one ever laughs at my jokes? They're pretty funny.

"Yeah," I say, because I know that's what Percy wants to hear—for the nth time.

"Okay, it's official—you're insane." Percy raises his hands once more and looks around, announcing this message to the air.

"Percy! Just get me that quest—_please_," despite the fact that I'm Nico, I beg. I beg like I've never begged before (fine, that was an overstatement, but still).

"Alright, I have a quest for you." He looks me in the eye. "Find the nearest Mental Hospital or Asylum and stay there until they manage to get your head on right, 'cause I swear to the gods, it's seriously on backwards." He shakes his head, muttering 'Arizona' to himself over and over again.

"Percy, I'm serious," I say with the straightest face I can make.

"So am I," Percy replies, and _goddamnit_—he manages to look more earnest than me! Which, honestly, I didn't think was possible, because he was—well—Percy Jackson.

"Argh, Percy, I hate you!" I whine.

"I was—" Percy holds up his hand, closing one of his eyes, and staring at the tiny gap he has in between his thumb and forefinger. "—_this _close to believing you." Apparently, he was half an inch close to believing me.

"Why won't you believe me?" I exclaim.

"Because you've been emotionally unstable when it came to those dreams since day 1, and I'm not going to push you over the edge."

"Too late, I already jumped off. I had a parachute and landed in the ocean, so I lived," I say. "Now will you help me get that quest?"

"NO."

"PERCY—"

"NUH-UH."

"BUT—"

"NOPE."

"I—"

"NADA."

"YOU—"

"ZILCH."

"ARIZONA—"

"ZIP."

"PLEASE?"

"No way, Jose, maybe another day." He holds up his hand, telling me to stop because my attempts are futile and I'm not getting anywhere.

"If I ask you again at midnight, will you say 'maybe'?" I whimper.

"If I say 'maybe' you'll get your hopes up over nothing, Nico," he says. "I can't do that to you."

"I really appreciate you being a big brother to me and all, what with everything we've been through, but—"

"But nothing, di Angelo," he says. He looks me in the eye and his voice is stern and controlling. It makes me want to bow down and kiss his feet. I was _half an inch_ close to actually doing it, but not really. "It's still a 'no'."

"Did you and Annabeth get into another fight again?" I ask, hopeful that maybe I'll be able to convince him by getting under his skin.

"What—no—what're you talking about?" Percy sputters. "Ah—wait—don't answer that, I know what you're trying to do, and it's not gonna work. Nice try, Nico."

"Well _fuck you_, Percy."

Too bad I never really said that.

I wanted to, but I had enough self-control not to.

And also because if I said that, all the more Percy wouldn't have helped me, just to spite me for answering back, cursing, and everything else I 'could've done'. It's all part of my evil plan, which—thinking positively here—is as conniving and foolproof as any of my father's.

Hopefully, Percy isn't just half the fool I suspect he might me—hopefully he's all of the fool he was the first time I met him.

"See, and because I know for a _fact_ that you're having a whole conversation with the many 'you's' inside your head and the invisible audience who agrees with everything you say about that plot you're creating to convince me otherwise," Percy states. "Just proves how emotionally unstable you _really_ are."

I have two words for you, invisible audience.

DAMN. IT.

Thank you for nodding in agreement.

"Wait, so what you're telling me is . . . " I rest my hand on Percy's shoulder as I attempt yet another negotiation. "The only thing that stands in between me and that quest to Arizona is my emotional instability?"

"Where are you going with this—" Percy mutters, but I cut him short.

"Soo . . . if I prove to you that I'm not emotionally unstable, you'd help me get that quest?" I ask.

"No," Percy says, officially sending my attempt crashing down. "Because I know you'll never be able to prove to me you're stable. No matter how many tricks you use. It might work on someone else, but I know you too well, Nico."

I groan in resentment.

"Besides." He slings his arm around my shoulder and squeezes it in a comforting big brother kind of way. "If I let you go on that quest and you don't find what you're looking for, here's how it's gonna go." He holds his hand up in the air horizontally, mimicking a line by keeping his fingers close together. "This is the surface," he says, moving his hand side to side for emphasis. "A hundred feet under that is—"

"The center of the earth?" I interrupt.

"Nope." He grins. "Rock bottom," he says, dragging his hand down. "When the . . . let's call it the 'Arizona Agreement'. When the Arizona Agreement happens, and you feel that you didn't get what you were asking for, in fact, maybe you got even less than you would've deemed 'not enough' to begin with, you'd be . . . "

"In rock bottom?" I ask.

"Nope," he says. "If this is rock bottom," he says, emphasizing rock bottom. "You're a hundred feet past, with all the pieces of shit in between." He drags his hand down and emphasizes his so-called 'even more bottom than rock bottom'.

"Do you _enjoy_ crushing my dreams?" I complain.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't, the point is," he explains. "It'd be better for you to just stay away from Arizona."

"But if I don't go to Arizona, what chance do I have of _ever_ seeing Thalia again?"

Percy chuckles. "The Hunters always seem to end up here anyway. You'll see her the next time we have a friendly game of Capture-the-Flag with them."

"But—"

"Nico—I don't wanna have to go through this again. You know what I'm going to say."

I stick my tongue out immaturely and sink into the shadows, the last thing I hear are Percy chuckles and him saying, "And doing _that_ won't work either. I turned the Guards on yesterday."

Three years ago, Chiron requested for Hephaestus to create a special shield that can be put around the camp to prevent me getting out of it through shadow travel. Hephaestus did, because Chiron is a very good negotiator, and the 'Guards', a giant force field that can be turned on and off by choice was built around camp, preventing me from shadow traveling beyond 30 feet of initial campgrounds. The Guards also prevent anything from shadow traveling its way _inside_ too, which has gotten on my nerves more times than I can count whenever I do get to escape.

They don't keep it on all the time, especially because a lot of the time the counselors in charge of it (there's a schedule) forget to turn it on after I've tricked them to turn it off temporarily, but Percy always makes a point to rub it in my face when it is turned on, because he _never_ forgets.

And unfortunately, I've never convinced any of the counselors to teach me how to turn the Guards off and on, so whenever Percy is in charge of it, all I usually do is just sit in my room, or go around messing with other campers, like ordering their shadows to do something they aren't to scare them. But I've never needed to go out of camp _more_ in my entire life.

Styx.

Styx.

_Styx._

I want to kill Percy _so much_ right now.

I grumble as I shadow travel through the campgrounds, tripping any campers who accidentally stepped on me, or sucking them in, and then spewing them out at a random spot in camp.

"WHOA." I hear a camper shout as I push their heel of the ground. I turn a bit to peek at who my latest victim was, and I see a mop of unruly brown hair, and a pair of skinny arms trying to push themselves up off the ground . . .

"Connor?" I whisper.

"Yes Invisible Voice I have a strange feeling is actually _Nico_?" Connor replies sarcastically.

"I like the Invisible Voice better," I joke. "I.V. for short."

"Psh." Connor laughs as he gets up from the ground. "You're lucky you're a friend, and that your cabin already reeks of 'Underworld', or else I'd totally break in and wreck it."

Then it hit me . . . along with Connor's foot.

I got up from the shadows so I was standing right in front of Connor, who's foot was still frozen in a 'ready to stomp on the spot my face used to be' position.

"Connor," I say.

"Nico," he repeats.

"I need your help," I say, with as much seriousness I could put into both my words and my expression. I sure hope this works.

"So, you trip me, mess with me, and _then_ ask for a favor?" Connor arches his eyebrows. "What're you on?" he asks with feigned sincerity.

"Um." I jump twice in panic. "I'm on the ground." I grin nervously. "I really need your help."

Connor looks at me suspiciously and chuckles. "Depends. We'll negotiate."

"I'll let you use a dragon's spirit for one of your pranks next Halloween," I say immediately.

His eyes widen and he smiles from ear to ear. "Deal! What do you want me to do?"

I pause for a moment and swallow.

I take a deep breath.

Am I really going to do this?

Is this worth all the risks I'm sure I'll have to take, and the risk I'm taking right now by trusting Connor?

Fuck.

I'm sure as Hades it is.

"I need you to help me get past the Guards." I look him in the eyes. I clench my fists and take steady breaths.

"I guess I could turn it off . . . " Connor's voice trails away.

"That won't work—Percy's in-charge. We'll both get in trouble if you do that," I explain. "And besides." I wink. "I want to make a grand exit."

Connor strokes his chin in contemplation. "Sure, sure," he mutters. "I just need you to shadow travel into the Hephaestus cabin and steal me a few things, oh, and steal me Jake Mason too."

I smile then nod.

Connor claps his hands together. "Awesome! We've got some work to do, then. 'Operation: I.V.' is now in action!"

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Holy shitballs... how long as it been since I last updated? It's been so long, the process of "updating" has become quite foreign to me now ): School's been hogging up most of my time, and whenever I DO have time, I usually spend it with my friends, or catching up on some long-awaited naps.

I'm reading the Lost Hero right now, and DAMN, is it amazing! I really love Rick Riordan's humor, and his talent with twists is amazing. He does it so well! So far, it's been 335 pages of a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

I hope you guys all like this chapter! It's mostly dialogue, character development, and it's sort of the chapter that will lead to what I call the "Revelations of Arizona", which I promise will be a lot more... dramatic? Yup, yup.

I have two more stories left to update. Homigash. Wish me luck!

I promise I will try to update more often. Maybe I should make a schedule? Hahaha.

Oh, and Happy Halloween! BWAHAHAHAAH! I really wanna go Trick or Treating, but I can't. I get so lazy on Sundays :P

From - Schoe! (:

PS. Review and tell me what you think! Ideas are always welcome. Like, ideas on how Nico's "Grand Exit" should be like, or what you think should or will happen next ;)

PPS. I apologize for any grammatical errors. I just finished Frankenstein for school and my brain is confused with which type of "English" to use - old English sticks to your brain like superglue sometimes... :D


	5. Four: Ready?

_Giras a la izquierda, entonces, sigues todo recto hasta 'la exención de responsabilidad'._

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR.

* * *

"**Ready?"**

I hear Connor's voice whisper below me. In case you were wondering, I'm on top of Thalia's pine tree right now, while Connor's below, being my lookout.

"What if I told you I wasn't?" I choke.

"Then I'll shake this tree so you fall off, then step on your face like I was supposed to." Connor punches the tree, causing it to rumble slightly.

"Hey!" I shout, grabbing onto the branches to regain my balance. "Don't do that."

"Then shut up and _be ready_," he demands.

"How can one just 'be ready'?" I ask stupidly to annoy Connor.

He punches the tree even harder. "If you shut up, maybe you'll figure it out."

I feel my foot slip and I grab onto the nearest branch with a slight yelp. I use my dangling foot to kick Connor's back. He jerks back, gasps, then pushes me back into the tree.

"Geez," Connor complains.

"Thanks," I say sarcastically.

"Nico! How many times do I have to tell you? Talk in whispers! We have to stay inconspicuous till Jake gives us the signal! They might get suspicious." Connor demands angrily.

"Yeah, sure they won't know something's up, 'cause you _always_ hang out near this tree," I tease.

"Oh, I just really love hanging with the dragon. He's my best friend. I could totally marry him." I could hear the growing contempt in Connor's voice. I should really stop pushing his buttons now, or else I might never be able to get to Arizona.

"I better be the best man. Oh wait, never mind, I want to be the _flower girl_." I wink, even though Connor can't see me. I know I just said I should stop, but it's just so fun.

"One more strike, di Angelo," Connor punches the tree threateningly once more, though lightly. "And you're out."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." I laugh. I tried to raise my hands in mock-surrender, but I almost lost my balance when I did. Connor can't see me anyway.

Connor sighs. "So, you still remember the plan or do I have to explain it to you one more time?"

"Nope, I remember. I memorized every single detail the fourth time." I grin.

"Good," he says. "Just remember—"

"One mistake, and everything's ruined," I cut him short. "I know."

I hear Connor chuckle a bit as he glanced up at me, then turn back around to face the camp, waiting for Jake to send us the signal any moment now.

So, what _is_ this plan, you ask? Let me explain.

The whole point of this plan is to get me my 'grand exit' out of this camp so I can get to Arizona. All the consequences will be dealt with upon my return.

For this plan to be a success, the first thing we did was: steal a bunch of automatons from the Hephaestus cabin. Jake then tinkered with them a bit too look _exactly_ like me, and even have some of my mannerisms so most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Connor scattered these automatons all over camp.

The twist? Jake installed a chip on them so they would be invisible, until one of the chips was deactivated. Then all of them would be, well, visible, and then start rampaging around camp. And if you touched one of the automatons, it would then would be propelled up into the sky then explode, with fireworks spelling out words like, "Nico di Angelo was here"—and other really interesting messages Connor wanted to put—in the sky.

In the midst of all this, Connor would turn of the Guards then I would just slip away quietly.

I bet it wasn't the 'grand exit' as you expected, but I'm a son of Hades—I'm not one to be into flamboyancy to begin with.

Then again, it _would_ be pretty cool if I escaped camp riding a flaming chariot being pulled by a bronze dragon . . .

And if I wore a battle suit, I'd be the complete "Knight in Shining Armor" set, with a hardcore bronze dragon instead of some gay horse . . .

Aww man!

I hear a faint whistle from the distance. I immediately look down at Connor. I bend down slightly and kick his head.

"Was that the signal?" I whisper.

He pushes my foot away. "Yes, now stay here and wait."

"Wow, how exciting," I say sarcastically as I sink back into the tree. I watch Connor roll his eyes and then run over to the Guards control room.

I hear a distant explosion and see, "NICO DI ANGELO IS A BADASS" with a tiny "but is still not as awesome as Connor Stoll" underneath it. I laugh as I position myself on the branch, ready to jump off when necessary.

I look ahead and see the faint purple force field around the camp flicker, from bright to faded and barely even there, until it shines brightly one last time before disappearing. I smirk. There's my cue.

I jump from the tree and begin to run for it. Finally. This was it. It's going to work. I'm going to get to Arizona.

"Shit!" I say as I feel something yank my foot with so much force I thought my foot was going to get ripped off. My whole body freezes and I fall to the ground.

Oh dear gods, please, _no_.

"Percy, no," I whimper in the distance.

I'm in so much pain my whole body's going numb. But I can't give up now. Arizona's waiting for me . . . Thalia's waiting for me . . .

"I'm not Percy," a voice whispers wickedly.

I turn around and see bright green eyes staring down at me. I see her smirk in the darkness, and giggle slightly as she watches me recoil in pain. A cold, green mist starts to form around us. I close my eyes as I feel the mist engulf me, right as I see her open her mouth to speak. I begin to sink into the shadows, concentrating on the desert I saw in my dreams. But I was too late.

"_In the mountains, you shall find what you want_

_But your thoughts will give in to every taunt_

_Remember these words as you get washed up the bay_

_For your actions, you will surely pay."_

Her words are the last things I hear before the darkness consumes me. Her whispers linger in my ear as my thoughts travel back and forth, torn between the unwanted prophecy and Arizona.

* * *

"Holy Zeus!" Thalia shouts. She sits up from her sleeping bag. She's sweating and panting heavily. "What the—" she whispers to herself as she looks around her tent. Everyone else is still asleep. Looks like they didn't hear her scream.

She stands up from her sleeping bag and walks out of the tent. She shivers as she feels the cold desert breeze. As she takes a few more steps forward, she realizes how even the sand beneath her feet is cold.

"They weren't lying when they said deserts were cold at night," she whispers to herself jokingly.

She rubs her arms for warmth as she walks further into the forest, in her pajamas and barefoot, completely unprotected.

She looks back at her tent, silver and sparkling under the moonlight, before venturing deeper into the woods.

She didn't know where she was going. She just knew that she had to trust her instincts to take her where she needed to go. She didn't know why she knew, but she did. Her dream told her so. Her heart was telling her so.

She kept walking until she reached a pathway with tiny dribbles of water flowing down. She steps on the water, ready to cross, when she hears heavy breathing near her. She immediately raises her arm, taps the chains on it, and grips onto her shield, Aegis, tightly.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't 'completely unprotected' after all.

She spots a figure in the darkness, covered in branches and dried up muddy leaves. She creeps towards it slowly, her footsteps as light as feathers.

"When creeping up behind an animal," she chants to herself in a whisper. "Be as invisible as you can. Then, when you're near enough, go for the kill." When she was about a foot away from the figure, she sprints then jumps on top of it. She grabs onto the hair at the top of the figure's head and yanks on it.

The figure grumbles in pain.

"What?" Thalia whispers.

Those groans sound really familiar.

She loosens her grip on the hair, the strands caressing the ends of her fingers as they slip away.

She scrunches up her eyebrows.

The hair. Familiar too.

She gets off of the figure and bends down beside it. She carefully grips onto its sides and flips it around to see the front of it.

Another groan of pain escapes the figure as it is slowly laid on its back.

"Oh dear gods," Thalia whispers as she takes in the figure's identity. She leans back a bit from the shock.

Pale olive skin blotched with mud . . . messy black hair drenched and tangled with leaves and twigs . . . and to top it all of, dark eyes that stared right into hers.

She starts trembling, but she tries to hide it.

"N-Nico?" she whispers.

"Help . . . me . . . " are the last words that escape Nico's mouth before he falls unconscious.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm really sorry for not updating in so long ): So here's my early Christmas gift, from me to you, a new chapter! :)

The POV sort of switches after Nico passes out, if you haven't already noticed. I hope it wasn't too confusing. I just needed to get Nico to Arizona more... dramatically, I guess? The rest of the story will progress in Nico's POV though, just so you guys don't get confused.

This chapter wasn't very long, I apologize, but I wrote it so Nico could finally get to Arizona, where everything else is going to happen. I promise there will be more drama starting the next chapter ;) I hope you all liked Nico's 'grand exit'. It just popped in my head while I was writing. Lots of what happened in this chapter I basically pulled outta my ass while writing, so I hope everything flowed pretty smoothly.

I was listening to "Baby Blue Eyes" by A Rocket to the Moon at the beginning of this chapter, and "Punch-Drunk Love" by the Summer Set about halfway through up till the end.

And remember that schedule I was supposed to make so I could update my stories more frequently? Well I failed at following it D: huhuhu.

Good news: Aside from updating this story, I was also able to update "Til' Hell Starts To Freeze", so I feel really accomplished this break. Hehehehe :P

Please tell me what you guys think of this chapter, and feel free to tell me any ideas you have for the story! I'm all ears (or eyes, since I'll be reading what you say, not really hearing them).

_Merrily Yours - _Schoe.

Did you guys write your letters to Santa yet? Hahaha :)


	6. Five: Help Me

_Copy and paste the disclaimer here._

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CHAPTER FIVE.

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"**Help me."**

—Are the last words that escape my mouth before I drift away . . . at least, that's what I remember. Memories swarm my mind as my brain slowly shuts down. I suddenly remember the last time I lay down on the beach near camp, the feel of the wet sand against my skin; the way I loved how the water would flow over me, tickle my face, and let my tongue taste the salt in the water, before pulling back once more to the sea.

My fingers twitch a bit as I feel those sensations return to me. I slowly sit back up and feel a wave break against me, showering me with water.

"Hades," I breathe. My left hand flies up to my neck and caresses it, surprised that I could speak without pain accompanying my words. "I thought I was dead." I whisper once more, my hand dropping back down to dig the wet sand underneath.

"You never know, anything's possible. Especially since demigods have that bad habit of dreaming way too much. But . . . I thought you were used to it?" I hear a voice grow closer from behind me.

I whip my head around and my smile is wiped from my face just as another wave breaks against me. I lick the saltwater off my lips before speaking.

"Percy," I say. "What're you doing here?"

"I should be asking that same question," he chuckles lightly. "This is _my_ dream you're in."

"I'm _what_—" I exclaim. I stand up and look around frantically. I feel and hear the water ripple as I swish my feet around, and the sand pull back from my skin because of my movements.

I look back at Percy and smirk. "You dream about beaches?"

Percy shrugs. "To each his own, I guess."

I take a step back. "What am I doing here? I thought I made it to Arizona."

"You did . . . just barely in one piece," says another voice from behind. This time, I don't turn around. I see the form of Rachel Elizabeth Dare move closer to us from the corner of my eye, until she's right beside the space in between Percy and me.

"Now _you're_ in my dream too?" Percy laughs and gestures jokingly at Rachel. "This has got to be an invasion of some kind of privacy."

"Don't blame me—I don't know why I'm here." I look at Percy accusingly. "Do _you_ know?" I turn to Rachel.

She shrugs. And that ticks me off.

"Gods, here we go! I bet this bitch knows _everything_, but she won't explain anything until the very end, when we've already figured out like half of it!" I shout as I flail my arms around wildly.

Why am I getting so furious?

"Nico, calm down—" Percy says nervously, but I cut him off.

"What do you fucking mean when you say I made it but 'barely in one piece'." I say mockingly, imitating her voice at the near end of the sentence.

"Exactly that," she replies nonchalantly. "You made it, but we can't be too sure about your physical condition. Before you passed out, you could barely breathe, and your whole body grew numb from all the pain. I think shadow traveling such a long distance was a lot more than you could handle, but you still forced yourself."

"But I've shadow traveled farther distances before, and this never happened to me."

"Then maybe something went wrong."

What's happening? Damn it. _Damn it all._

"Okay, since you're already at it, tell me—why am I here, in Percy's dream?"

"Well," Rachel begins. "Demigod dreams all mean something else—they all have underlying meanings and can't really be taken literally. And, one way or another, demigods are connected to each other. I'm guessing . . . Percy will have to help you somewhere down the road. And as for me." She smiles. "Well, I just know stuff."

I turn back to Percy. His face is flabbergasted.

"Me—help—NO WAY," he says with matching hand gestures. He points to me. "You already crossed the line still going to Arizona. Now you have to suffer for it." He mumbles something incoherent. "I'm waking up." He lies down on the shore and shuts his eyes closed. He puffs his cheeks up.

I chuckle. No way that's gonna work.

I feel the ground shake, and the water sinking down to the ground.

I purse my lips. Well . . . what do you know.

"Percy no—" I hear Rachel shout before I'm jolted awake.

"Help!" I shout as my thoughts return to reality. My eyes are still blurry and I slowly sit back down. As I slowly shut my eyes once again, I see the faint shape of Thalia's face looking at me with a concerned yet grim expression.

Gods. What have I gotten myself into?

Another memory consumes me as my consciousness leaves me yet again. I take a deep breath as a green mist surrounds me, and then darkness. My mind chanting, "Arizona. Arizona. Arizona," over and over as I flutter in and out of consciousness, and in and out of darkness.

Thoughts fly in and out of my mind, most of them completely unrelated to Arizona. I remember places I've shadow traveled to before—the Louvre sounds like a pretty interesting place to be in right now. Then I remember Arizona again.

I only become focused once more as I feel my feet touch the ground. I'm surrounded by trees, and I'm perched on top of elevated ground, desperately waving my arms around to keep my balance as I walk.

Then it happens.

I feel my feet slip on the ground, and my right ankle get caught on a crevice in the wall, then slip off as my whole body tips over and crashes to the ground. I feel my throat tighten as I try to scream, but nothing comes out. All I get from that attempt was a pain so intense it's numbing. Hades, I never want to feel that ever again.

I try to get up, but my attempt is futile. My injured ankle gives up on me and I fall back on the ground, this time, sliding on the mud a nearby creek, or something, created. After this, I lose track of what happens.

"Nico."

The sound of my voice in my ears sounds foreign to me. How long have I been out?

"Hrm . . . " I manage to mumble out, still relieved that the pain I get from talking is finally gone.

"Are you _finally_ awake now?" Thalia, at least I think it's her, asks impatiently.

"Um, I think so? Why?" I groan.

"You've been in and out of consciousness for the past . . . " she pauses to think. I see the blur of her face thinking in contemplation. "Three days?"

"I've been out that long?" I raise my voice slightly in surprise.

"Yup," Thalia replies. She sighs. "What in Zeus' name did you get yourself into?" she exclaims.

I close my eyes and rub them. I open them again, and finally, I can see clearly.

"Deep shit," I reply. I chuckle weakly.

She shakes her head, but I see her lips curl into a small smile.

"Where am I?" I ask, just like the near-death-experience escapee I am.

"In a forest, near the spot where the Hunters set up camp. I set up a tent here."

My eyes grow bigger, and I arch my eyebrows. "But I thought I saw a desert in my dream, not a forest."

"We're kind of near. This forest is in the land between the mountainside and the desert you remember. It's about a one to two hour walk from here to that spot, maybe thirty minutes if you sprint."

"Yeah, no sprinting for me," I joke weakly.

She looks at me with the stone face.

You'd think that someone would have the courtesy to laugh at the jokes of someone severely injured, especially if they mean something to you. Thalia completely defies my expectations, and it drives me nuts. Why can't we have a normal relationship even for just . . . I don't know, _one day_?

Oh right. We're demigods. But wait. We're not just ordinary demigods. We're the children of the 'Big Three'.

Yipee! More things to go with the 'anti-normalcy' campaign my life is totally supporting right now!

She smiles awkwardly then signals me to open my mouth. She drops in one cube of ambrosia into my mouth. I chew on it excitedly. The euphoric flavor of hot fudge explodes in my mouth, and I feel the blood rush into my cheeks as I savor it. I slowly feel the numbness leave my limbs, and the ache in my back fade away.

I feel a bit sadder as I swallow the rest of the ambrosia, tasting the last of the hot fudge in my mouth, and sensing the last of my initial pain leave me.

"Did the ambrosia work?" Thalia asks.

"Yeah, it worked wonders. Why didn't you feed it to me earlier?"

She shrugs. "You haven't really stayed conscious long enough for you to swallow it until now. I mean, I can't just force it down your throat."

"That sounds like something you would do," I joke.

"Ha-ha, very funny." She sticks her tongue out. "Oh, and, you're welcome for saving your life, too."

I sit up then hug her. I nuzzle my head on her shoulder, scrunching my nose as her hair tickles it.

"Thank you." My voice is muffled as I hug her tighter.

I feel her body loosen as she slowly hugs me back.

I keep her closer to me, feeling the warmth of her body against mine. I feel her heart beating against my chest.

If only we could stay this way forever. I love the feeling of having Thalia in my arms. It makes me feel like anything's possible. It's like the whole world's at my fingertips. It's really hard to explain, but that's just how it is. I have no idea why.

Thalia's body stiffens once again as the sounds of leaves cracking comes from outside the tent. She pulls away immediately.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Thalia stands up and sits down farther away from me. I cross my legs into an Indian sit and lean my forearms on my thighs, slouching my back as I do so.

I see the silhouette of a small girl from outside the tent, slowly bending down to open the tent's zipper. I gulp. As the tent slowly opens, I feel myself back away from the entrance and closer to one of the corners.

"Thalia?" the girl says as she slowly enters the tent. The first thing I see pop out of the hole that is the entrance of the tent is a head of auburn hair, yellow light—because the tent is yellow—bouncing off her head angelically. A pair of mesmerizing silvery eyes scan the whole tent before she enters.

"My lady." Thalia bows down courteously.

"How is that deathly looking boy—" she stops short when her eyes find me once again, staring directly into mine. I think my heart skips a beat right there. "Oh, there he is." She stands up straighter, still looking straight at me. My eyes are transfixed on her.

Artemis' skin was flawless—practically glowing. The way she carried herself was amazing, her movements were so graceful yet so powerful. Every time she spoke I felt the sudden urge to bow down and kiss her feet. I had to conjure up all of my self-control, and dignity, to stop myself.

"Um, hello, Lady Artemis, ma'am," I croak. There goes my voice again!

"Hello," she replies, trying to force a heartwarming smile. "Nico di Angelo, is it? Son of Hades?"

"Yes, ma'am." I grin awkwardly.

"Thalia requested special permission for you to stay with us until you are well enough to travel back to camp," she says, her voice is so commanding and compelling, I find myself taking in every single word. "I agreed, but we must establish some ground rules, understand?"

I nod.

"You are not to go anywhere alone with any of my Hunters. You are not allowed to leave this tent without permission. If you try to show any kind of affection to my Hunters, I will turn you into a jackalope," she says, her face dead serious. "Once you are well enough, you must leave immediately. You are not allowed to talk to any of the other Hunters aside from Thalia, who requested special permission on the account that you two are old friends, without permission," she continues. "And don't even try to cross me, Nico di Angelo. I know things you could only dream about knowing. I know how to make your life a living hell, no help from your father necessary. Understand?" she raises her voice slightly at the end of her sentence, indicating the question very clearly.

I nod frantically.

"Good." She nods, acknowledging our agreement. "I will trust your word, Nico di Angelo, break it and you will suffer." She smiles at Thalia before exiting the tent.

After a moments silence, I take a deep breath and look at Thalia.

"She scares me," I say.

She laughs. "She's only that way to boys."

"I wish I wasn't a boy right now."

"She's actually treating you pretty nicely, surprisingly. She barely gives a boy in trouble a second look. Rabbits are more important to her than men, I think," she jokes.

"That's . . . insane," I say, nervously looking around the tent, just in case Artemis bugged it.

"Don't be such a wuss," Thalia says, reaching out to punch my shoulder. "She's not going to get you."

"How do you know?" I exclaim. "She's like the boogeyman, I swear. You never know when she'll pop up and eat me—or turn me into a jackalope."

"You're an idiot." Thalia slaps her forehead and shakes her head, chuckling a bit as she does so.

"You love it." I stick my tongue out.

"In your dreams, di Angelo."

"Didn't we have this conversation before? _In _ my dreams?" I joke.

"Shut up." She glares at me. She stands up and pats the dirt off her clothes. "Well I'm gonna grab a bite to eat. You hungry, Ghost Boy?"

I look down at my stomach and rub it. "A lil' bit."

"Fine, I'll be back. Just get some rest." She steps out of the tent. She stays there for a bit before speeding back inside and kissing my cheek and running back outside, rapidly zipping the tent closed.

I sigh, and smile.

I'll never understand her.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

**Merry Christmas everyone!** I spent my Christmas with my little cousins, building volcanoes and playing Beyblade with them (I beat them). Hahaha! How did you spend yours? I hope you guys got what you wanted! :)

**Happy New Year!** Can you believe 2011 is just around the corner? Time passes by so quickly! Have you guys made your new year's resolutions yet? I have squat for mine. Hahaha.

Anyway, here's chaaapter five! I promised I would make it longer, and a lot nicer than chapter four (I owe you guys), so I hope I was able to keep my promise! I can say that quite a bit happens in this chapter, and a lot of characters appear here too. I hope it doesn't get too confusing in the middle bit, during Nico's memories and stuff. I hope you could still tell the difference between reality and his memories, and Percy's dream. Hahaha!

Please tell me what you think! Ideas are always welcome, and reviews always make my day :)

_Still yours on 2011 - _Schoe! [:

PS. I apologize for any typos! I've reread it and edited already, but I still might've missed some!


	7. Six: Urgh

_I hereby pledge that the disclaimer, as always, belongs here._

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CHAPTER SIX.

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"**Urgh."**

Waking up that morning was a total blur . . . actually, now that I think about it, that whole morning was a blur and I barely remember any of it. Honestly, I could be dreaming right now since I don't even remember waking up.

I try to sit up, but I don't think any part of my body even twitched, therefore not showing any sign of capability.

I stay there for a moment, scared that my lungs, too, had stopped working, when I suddenly become aware of my very weak and spasmodic breathing. But there's something around my throat, trying to stop my breathing. I try to open my eyes once more, but only see blurs through my tears, and my impaired vision didn't help much either. I close my eyes again and feel my head move side to side stiffly as I attempt to shake the tears out of my eyes.

The pain is so immense I can't feel it anymore.

Then . . . nothing – I feel absolutely nothing. Not even the blunted sensation of being strangled, or the slight movement of my fingers twitching, itching to move.

I don't know where I am. I don't know what time of day it is, or what's happening right now. The only things I know are the basics – like that I'm Nico di Angelo, I'm a son of Hades, and I am floating in the middle of nothingness.

The last thing I remember that isn't a blur is getting to Thalia in Arizona safely, and being scared out of my wits by Artemis, who had made me promise a mouthful of things – things I don't remember anymore.

"Somebody," I croak, my voice sounding like I haven't used it in years. "Help." My voice shrieks pathetically.

I freeze again, this time not because my body can't move anymore – I don't think paralysis includes my imaginary self – but because I find myself face-to-face with Apollo. He is looking at me, his blindingly white teeth showing as he grins at me, but his eyes filled with a grim kind of seriousness I choose not to look at it.

"What's happening?" I whisper. My voice could not become any louder.

He laughs. I feel like strangling him. He's the god of medicine, isn't he? Can't he see that I'm _suffering_?

He winks. "So," he begins. "You're afraid of my sister?"

"Yes," I answer immediately. "Don't avoid my question," I add.

"Weird things," he replies grimly. "I can't say. And even if I could, I'd rather not."

"Why am I here? I thought I was safe . . . I thought I made it to . . . to . . . to wherever I was going in one piece? I remember Thalia – and Artemis!"

"Thing is," he says. "Did any of that really happen?"

I open my mouth to reply, when he raises his hand, signaling me not to interrupt.

"You're going to say that you remember it happening, but do you really?" He smirks mischievously. "I can honestly say that we don't really remember what happens; what we remember _becomes_ what happens. With the added fact that you can't even remember waking up this morning, how can you be so sure of remembering _anything _right now?"

"I – I –" I stutter, but I can't form complete sentences.

His smile never wavers from his face.

"You know what dreams usually mean for a demigod, right?"

"Dreams are usually . . . foreboding," I reply.

He nods.

"But – _what are you trying to tell me?_" I snap. "I made it safely. I'm in no danger."

"Then why don't you remember waking up this morning? Why don't you remember passing out because someone was trying to strangle you to death?" He replies calmly, though very quickly.

"What kind of warning is this supposed to be? The only thing in this dream is you and I – no one else. I would've been alone if you hadn't shown up."

"And that's what's going to happen if you don't get your act together and start using your common sense." I've never seen Apollo so serious. "Reckless actions often result in messy endings, never happily-ever-after's."

Then he disappears.

This has to be one of the things I hate the most about being a demigod – the fact that when you get a clue about something, you have to figure it out yourself, and chances are that you'll figure it out _right before_ anything urgent happens. Sometimes, you don't even figure it out at all, and you just have to make do without it.

I walk around nothingness for a while, until I feel in my stomach, then the warmth suddenly surges through the rest of my body. I close my eyes and smile. When I open them again, I see the bright yellow the tent, and I hear my breathing slowly becoming normal again. A wave of memories rushes into my mind once more, but doesn't push the dream out of my mind. I sit up slowly, afraid of straining my body anymore, and see that someone had just left moments before I had woken up. There was an empty glass sitting a foot away from where I had been resting, along with a muddy footprint.

I sit there, trying to piece together my dream, but I start to forget. I snap my eyes shut, feeling my face contort as I try to squeeze the dream out of my memory, but it's no use. I've forgotten a big chunk of my dream – a big chunk of what Apollo had said. All I remember is, him saying something about 'remembering,' and 'happily-never-after's," then me feeling a surge of warmth as I'm pulled back out of lala-land and back into reality.

"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" I see Thalia's shadow move towards the opening of my tent. She sticks half her torso in to peek at me, her face grinning mischievously at me. "I've been out hunting, and all the times I dropped by to check on you, you were snoozing away. I even poked you with my arrow once, but you didn't even budge. Slept like a log." She laughed.

I chuckled nervously.

"Something wrong?" she asks.

I shake my head vigorously.

Her eyebrows scrunch up suspiciously.

"Honest," I cough out.

Her face relaxes a bit. "How about a bit of fresh air, then? Artemis allows it, for as long as you're far enough away from the other Hunters." She unzips the tent completely and she swoops into the tent, grabs my arm then drags me out.

The sun is really bright. I'm not so sure how I feel about that. The breeze, however, blowing the hair away from my face – I loved that. I take in as much of the fresh mountain air as I can.

"How long was I out this time?" I turn to Thalia, who has been eyeing a bush a few feet away from us for a while now.

"Not that long this time, not like last week. You kind of just overslept today. I think you're getting better."

My heart drops. _'I think you're getting better.'_

Thalia's words echo in my mind.

I'm getting better, which means, probably the moment I am 'all better,' I have to pack up my stuff and head back to camp – or anywhere, as far as Artemis is concerned, as long as it's far away from here, or wherever she and her Hunters are.

"I just have to say, I'm really going to miss you." Thalia smiles. "It was kind of like having a piece of camp here with me."

I smile weakly.

The past week I spent in forest rejuvenating from my unfortunate shadow traveling accident had been amazing. This was the longest time I'd spent with Thalia ever since she left camp last year. I probably spent more time with her here than in camp, because in camp she was either always with Annabeth, Percy, Chiron, or one of the Hunters. The only time I'd spend with her was usually in a swordfight, or racing up and down the Climbing Wall.

Thinking about returning to camp got me to remember all the consequences I'd have once I set foot on campgrounds. I'd be in _huge_ trouble – especially with Percy, who was the one person that was hell-bent on keeping me away from Arizona.

"I think Percy's going to kill me right when I get back to camp," I mutter. "I wouldn't be surprised if he caused a tidal wave because he was so angry."

"He wouldn't." But even with all Thalia's swagger, the uncertainty of her voice is still there.

A few leaves from the bush Thalia was eyeing a moment ago starts to shake, and a giant beetle flies from it and lands flat on my face. I whimper in panic and slap it off my face frantically.

I hear Thalia laugh as I shiver, still grossed out by that beetle.

"Nico di Angelo, are you afraid of _bugs_?" she guffaws.

"Maybe," I scoff. "Aren't _you_ afraid of _heights_?"

But she didn't hear my very insulting comeback, because she was laughing so hard she was practically screaming.

I cross my arms and turn away from her childishly.

So what if I'm afraid of bugs? Everyone's afraid of something! And bugs have NO SOULS. It doesn't make sense! They're not alive! They're just empty vessels filled with systems functioning robotically because of natural instincts! They're like zombies! Which totally explains why mosquitoes want to suck you dry, right?

"Anyway, I uhm – "

"Had a weird dream?" Thalia cocks an eyebrow. She crosses her arms over her chest, her silver bracelets dancing with her movements. It's really hard to believe that with just one _tap_, the bracelets become one full-fledged weapon that could shish kebab you.

"Only one, and I can barely even remember it," I complain.

"Tell me about it."

I bite my lower lip before taking a deep breath and sighing. "As the seconds pass by, a little chunk of the dream goes away with it, and no matter what I do, I can't seem to –"

"Just tell me about your dream already," Thalia demands.

"I was in the middle of nothingness. Seriously. It was all white, and I was all alone . . . well, for most of it. Apollo was there for a while, the gods know why."

"Apollo?" her eyebrows scrunch up showing a very subtle but still noticeable expression of anxiety and suspicion. "Did he say anything?"

"Like I told you before, I don't remember much." Just as I finish my sentence, Thalia glares at me. I then conk my head trying to wrack my brain for every trace of my dream I could squeeze out, just to be sure that Thalia wouldn't suddenly give her bracelet that little tap and . . . well, you get the picture. "But um, he found it funny that I was afraid of Artemis!"

Thalia smirks a bit at this, and nods, urging me to go on.

I wrack my brain some more. I think my brain is in danger of overuse. What if my system crashes?

Stupid Hephaestus kids.

"And he told me something like . . . if I didn't get my act together, the nothingness that surrounded me would become me . . . and that how could anything really be happening if I don't even remember any of it, not even waking up that morning."

Thalia remains silent for a while.

"Tha –" I begin to say, but she intercepts me.

"Anything else?" she says hastily.

"No, that's really all I can remember –"

"It's fine," she says quickly before I can even finish my sentence. "Strange. Really strange." She starts mumbling incoherently to herself.

"Thalia, I –"

"Should get some rest," she intercepts me _yet again_. I can't seem to finish a sentence nowadays! "I don't think you're in the right, er, state of mind, or just state in general, to be walking around or doing anything physical. Just stay in the tent." She orders me like I was some dog that would just obey.

I'm about to be rebellious and stand up for myself but she starts to walk away before I can even open my mouth.

"Oh and, did you leave your tent a while ago? I saw an empty glass in there."

I'm about to say 'no, I thought you made me drink that nectar, since you're the only one allowed to be near me, and the Hunters – the only place in which nectar is available in the area – at the same time,' but I think twice and shrug instead. "I don't remember." It's best not to add to the tensions already piling up.

She looks down at my feet. "Your shoes are filthy. They're all muddy. Honestly, I don't believe that you stayed in your tent the whole time." She stares at me, expecting me to explain myself (even if I really had nothing to say), but leaves even before I can take a breath.

I look down at my muddy shoe, and remember the muddy footprint next to the empty glass in my tent. I feel like I'm supposed to be able to put two-and-two together right about now, but I can't. None of the possibilities make sense.

Frustrated and tired, I go back inside my tent, slipping off my shoes restlessly and plopping onto my sleeping back, forgetting that it's not a bed and plopping on it may come with pain.

Hades? Apollo? Anyone?

Even Aphrodite would be nice.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

First of all, I want to say: **SORRY SORRY SORRY!**

It's really been forever since I updated, and I feel really bad about it. It's just, I've been swamped by school, training, being a teenager with all those teenager-ish problems attached, and I also went on an exchange program to Japan for a month. You wouldn't believe the workload when I got back, ugh, awful. Simply awful.

I promise that, since I've got the time, I will update. I just need a while to channel my past self and remember what I planned for this story, and maybe tweak it a bit here and there to make it better.

This chapter isn't much (and again, I'm sorry), it's basically just me setting up the climax and twists and stuff coming up, so yup. Stay tuned! (Can you say that for a story?)

Ideas, reviews = always welcome and very well appreciated.

_Sitting here, apologizing - _Schoe! (:

PS. Did I say I was sorry?


	8. Seven: Gods, Have You Bathed?

_And she said, her breathe wavering as it slowly left her, "My last wish..." she coughed, but forced herself to continue. "My last wish... is for the disclaimer to go here."_

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CHAPTER SEVEN.

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"**Gods, have you bathed?"**

Thalia tells me as she enters my tent. She waves her hand in front of her crinkled nose. "It smells like something _died_ in here," she adds.

I stare up at her and attempt a glare. There's a high probability that, like it usually does, my death glare had failed miserably. I attempt a smile instead, but in the end, find that I can't manage to do that either.

"Well, what do you expect? I'm not allowed to leave this damn tent." I say. "Besides, where in Hades am I supposed to bathe? Not like there's a shower in the middle of a friggin' forest."

She looks at me and raises an eyebrow. A smirk plays her lips. My eyes widen.

"No way," I say, my mouth gaping. "So there _is_ a shower in the forest?"

She shakes her head and then she walks over and smacks mine. Before I could even utter an 'oww,' or any other complaint, she says, "I think you lost a part of your brain shadow traveling here."

"Well, you _just_ killed some more brain cells. If I become even stupider than I was before, I'm blaming you." I stick my tongue out at her.

She shakes her head, but she her lips are curled into a smile.

"There's a lake not far from here, but pretty far from where the Hunters have set up camp. I don't think Artemis would mind it if you went over there for a bath. The farther away you are from her Hunters, the better, anyway." She grins, laughing a bit as she talked.

I nod, but I remember something very crucial when I stand up. I grab the sides of my shirt, making sure I showed the most tattered and muddied up parts, and look at Thalia with the smuggest expression I can make. "Don't have a change of clothes, sorry. Guess I'll just have to stay stinky."

I laugh and sit back down, bending one leg up so I can rest an arm on my knee. I lean back and use my free arm for support. I haven't bathed since I arrived here at Arizona. "I'm hoping to break the world record for 'longest time lasted without taking a bath, or taking part in any sort of bodily hygiene.'"

"You're disgusting," she scoffs. She grabs the scruff of my shirt and pulls me up. "I'll get you extra clothes."

"There's no way in Hades I'm wearing girl clothes," I make a disgusted face.

"Gods, di Angelo, don't get your panties in a twist," Thalia laughs and slaps my arm. I fidget as I feel some weird sensation ride up my spine – she shocked me on purpose, I bet. "I'm sure I can find something for you."

"Nothing pink, or glittery, and nothing with hearts, flowers, butterflies, and you know, all that girly crap." I say as I shoo her away to fetch me my supplies.

"Got it," she nods at me and walks out of the tent, waving a hand goodbye. "I'll make sure to bring you something pink – no, _hot_ pink – glittery, with hearts, flowers, butterflies, and every other girly thing in the entire world."

I stare at the opening of my tent, where Thalia had just exited, my eyebrows scrunched up. I don't know whether she was serious about the whole 'getting me girly clothes' thing. There's a big chance it was just a joke, but I never know with Thalia. She's mean; it sounds _just_ like her to make me suffer.

Remind me again why I go through so much trouble for her?

I step outside the tent to stretch and, basically, to _just breathe_. There was something really different about mountain air. I'm on the verge of finding a nice little mountain and building an old-fashioned cabin made of logs on top of it (not too high up, though), with a fireplace, a giant porch and everything, like you see in those camping movies. I could get a dog – probably either a Bloodhound named Bristol, or a Labrador named Lionel. Hmm, or I could get both. We'd both go fishing together and cook it in a bonfire I set up just in front of my house.

In the middle of my little daydream, I notice a girl with jet-black hair and so much eyeliner, or eye shadow, whatever, _eye-shit_, around her eyes making her look like a human raccoon, slowly walking towards me. Her movements are slow, and her feet barely touch the ground. Before each step, she looks around.

I raise an eyebrow as I watch her. She notices me and then jumps back in surprise, but sprints to me after regaining her composure. She was still making as little noise possible.

When she reaches me, she hands me a pile of folded up clothes. I take it with a smile, but I still keep my guard up. I thought the Hunters, except for Thalia, were forbidden to go near me? Or did Artemis change the ground rules while I was out cold?

Ha, not likely.

Besides, there's something about this girl that seems suspiciously familiar, I just can't put my finger on it.

I mumble my thanks as I walk back into the tent to inspect the clothes she gave me. I have to make sure they're _manly_ enough.

I – neatly – unfold each clothes, beginning with the shirt at the top of the pile. It's just a plain gray sweatshirt with a giant yellow smiley-face on it. I nod. This is good enough. I fold it up – not so neatly – and set it beside the neater stack of clothing I'm about to mess up. Next, I unfold a pair of camouflage-designed cargo pants. I nod again. This makes up for the giant smiley-face.

After refolding the cargo pants, I realize all that's left is a white undershirt, a pair of clean socks, and a pair of really neon yellow boxers which I bet glowed in the dark. I throw the failure stack of clothes on top of the neat ones. All I gotta do now is wait for Thalia to get back so I can go to the lake.

When I stand up, I turn around and find that the raccoon girl standing in front of the exit.

"Oh, hey," I say, my hands instinctively flying into my pockets. What? This is how I deal with awkward situations! "Um, thanks again for the clothes."

"No problem." She winks. And then, or maybe it's just me, but I swear to the gods, I see her lick her lips.

I step back. She takes a step forward.

Now this is oddly familiar.

I never really got it when people said they were "undressing him with their eyes" . . . until now. The way she's looking at me looks like she wants to you-know my Holy of Holies, or kill me – but she wants me to strip naked before she does.

I just want to go up to her and tell her:

"My gods woman! I have to say, the lecherous manner in which you are staring at me is really unnerving, would you please kindly cease and desist? Thank you for your kind consideration. By the way, I would also like you to sign these papers. Yes, it is regarding the restraining order I am issuing. It kind of involves you."

But I'm afraid she might stab me with an arrow or something.

"Allison?" Thalia walks into the tent, her eyebrows crossed. She's holding a knife in her hand and pointing it at the girl who turned out to be Allison. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just . . . " Allison stammers. " . . . leaving." And she leaves the tent in a split second, without another word.

Thank the gods Thalia was here to save me from that awkward situation.

Whoa. This is some major déjà vu.

"She scares me," I tell Thalia.

"Are you going to tell me you're scared of every girl that enters this tent besides me?" She laughs.

"I'm afraid of you too."

Her laugh sounds torn between anger and amusement.

"No, but honestly, that girl, she scares me." I shake my head.

"Allison," Thalia informs me. "Why was she here?" she asks me – well, more like she _demands_ the answer from me.

I swoop down and grab the clothes that Allison girl gave me. I show it to Thalia, gathered up in a bunch in my arms. "She gave me these clothes," I say. I raise an eyebrow and smirk. "Speaking of clothes, where're the ones you were supposed to bring me?"

"The what – oh, well, I – " she stammers, and when she fails to form a suitable answer, she resorts to punching me instead. "C'mon, I'll take you to the lake."

She doesn't even wait for me when she exits the tent. I have to struggle just to keep up with her, and mind you, it's very difficult, what with the bundle of clothes I was carrying (which, for some odd reason, was growing messier and messier with each step) and the swiftness of her movements (damn Hunter instincts).

We weave through the forest. She ducks each branch like she knows they're coming, jumps over every tree root, and maneuvers through the bushes. I, as expected, lose a couple more brain cells because of all the branches, and almost flatten my nose tripping on a tree root. Unexpectedly, however, I am able to move through the bushes.

Victory!

Thalia suddenly stops, and I crash into her. She balances us both and she elbows my gut to make me move backward. I do, but I end up hunching forward as well, in pain.

She looks both ways before passing the, er, makeshift path and steps over a root I conveniently spot one-step too late. The next few moments happen in a split second.

I fall forward, Thalia instinctively moves out of my way, and I dive head first into the lake.

I begin to thrash about in the water, suddenly forgetting how to swim. I take giant breaths whenever my head finds the opportunity to pop out to the surface, and I puff up my cheeks (like I can store my breath that way) underwater.

I feel Thalia grab the scruff of my shirt and drag me out of the water, dropping me unceremoniously on the mud.

"Holy Zeus, what do you think you're doing, Ghost Boy?" Thalia dives into the lake and fishes the pieces of clothing I've completely forgotten about, dunking them in the lake to get rid off any dirt, and then hangs them on a nearby branch.

"Thank you!" I grin stupidly.

She proceeds like she never heard me. "You'll have to wait until those clothes dry. In the mean time . . . " she grabs a bottle and a small Tupperware from her pockets and tosses them at me. She laughs as they both hid my face before they plop into my hands.

I bet she did that on purpose.

I try to act like I didn't blunder. "What're these?"

"Shampoo and a bar of soap," she tells me like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Don't tell me you were planning to take a bath with just lake water?"

"I was going to let my survival skills kick in and use the natural soaps of the wild." I smirk.

She stares at me with a stone face, nods her goodbye, and disappears without another word.

"Well isn't she a breathe of fresh air." I mutter to myself as I force myself, draped in soaking wet and frustratingly heavy clothes, to stand up.

Along with the massive amounts of dirt my clothes already collected during my misadventures here in Arizona, I'm covered with nearly three-fourths of mud, and the rest with leaves, twigs, and tiny pebbles.

Slowly, and making sure I made the most disgusted face I could manage just to add some comedy to this whole situation, I slowly and carefully peel off my clothes. I start with my jacket – Hades, Grandma Demeter's going to smite me when she sees it – then the t-shirt I wore under, and then work my way down.

The moment I am fully exposed and _vulnerable_, I cannonball back into the water, leaving my clothes in such a messy pile they camouflaged in the mud.

The water is really cold at first, but once my body adapts, it starts to feel warm and refreshing.

I start doing laps in the water, and just playing around, when I realize I'm supposed to be taking a bath. I paddle over to the shore and grab the bottle of shampoo. I gingerly start to pour it into one hand. I start to grow impatient when the shampoo only _trickles_ from the opening, so I rip the top off, and spill a superfluous amount on my hair. I feel some off it falling on my shoulders and sneaking into my ears. I carelessly throw it out of the way – Thalia's going to kill me for wasting shampoo, but oh well – and with my eyes shut tight; I start to massage my head.

Occasionally, I have to submerge to get the excess amount of suds from my hair, ears, nostrils . . . you know, those places. I don't know how long it took, but I manage to get rid off all the shampoo. I look around me and see the large quantities of foam I polluted the lake with, only to find that they begin to dissolve until the lake water is as clear as ever.

The shampoo's magic . . .

I figured as much.

I slurp a mouthful of water and keep it in my mouth, and squirt it out again as I begin to soap. While soaping my pits, I spit out the backwashed water all over the shore when I realize someone was watching.

I plunge my body deeper into the water until it's only my head over the surface. I jerk my hand out and grab the nearest piece of clothing I could grab – it was my hoodie. With a lot of difficulty, I tie the muddied up piece of clothing over my lower body, hopefully managing to cover majority despite the water's unwanted interference.

Feeling a bit less exposed with the hoodie for protection, I surface out of the water a bit more, but still keep the rest of my body, from the shoulder down, underwater.

"Hello?" I call out. "Anybody there?"

Silence.

"Uhm," I begin to fidget. I hear the water _swoosh_ with my sudden anxious movements. "Marco?"

"Polo." I hear the voice of a girl answer me sheepishly.

"You, there," I say, pointing to the direction I guessed the voice was coming from. "Show yourself."

And – what do you know – Allison appears from behind the tree. She slowly walks over to me, but I jump backwards when I remember how little clothing I had on me. In Hades' name, I was taking a bath!

"A-A-Allison!" I say, as smooth and suave as always. "W-whatareyoudoinghere?" I spout out a mouthful in a second.

She smiles and takes another step forward. I take another step back. "Don't go any closer," I say. "Notwearinganyclothes," I whisper as fast as I can, growing increasingly red by the second.

She giggles and walks over the branch with my clothes hanging limply on them. She grabs the boxers and walks back to me. She bends down and stretches her hand out, gripping firmly onto the bright yellow boxers. I lunge forward and place a hand over her eyes.

"Close your eyes," I say. She places her free hand over my mind, and I have to struggle to slip it away from her face. I take the boxers from her, place her other hand over her eyes as well, and jump out of the water.

Luckily, I was successfully able to tie the hoodie to cover what was supposed to be covered. I wipe myself dry as fast as I can and slip on the boxers.

As if on cue, she stands up, her hands no longer covering her eyes, and faces me. I smile awkwardly as I reach for my white undershirt.

She slips her hand inside her pocket and takes out a glass vial filled with a sparkling kind of liquid inside.

"Allison, what's that –" I try to ask, but she intercepts me.

"Nico, I love you," she says.

I freeze.

Holy Harpies. What am I supposed to say to that?

"Thanks?" I screech.

Probably shouldn't have been that.

She snickers. "I thought as much."

"Well, I –"

"Just shut up," she shouts.

"Shutting up," I squeak.

"I'm really sorry about what's going to happen next." She starts to unscrew the top of the vial.

"Wait!" I hold a hand out. "Aren't you supposed to do that evil villain thing and tell me your plot right about now?"

She smirks and lets out a laugh that sends goose bumps all over my already cold body.

"Not today, I'm afraid."

And the next moment, Allison throws the sparkling liquid at me. I toss my undershirt at it and barely dodge it in time. I sink into the shadows to avoid getting even a drop of it on me, afraid of what the unknown contents might be. I drag Allison into the shadows and travel us back to my tent.

After the ground spits us back up in my tent, I turn to Allison.

"You better tell me what you're up to –" but as I look at her, I realize that she's out cold.

Whoops. I guess I didn't properly shadow travel her here.

I look around the tent. Luckily, we're all alone, since I'm still in just my boxers having left the rest of my stuff by the lake in all the commotion.

Suddenly unbearably tired, I lean back, and in the next moment, I'm dreaming.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

I was just wondering, was the disclaimer too much? I just felt like adding a little drama to the disclaimer since I couldn't find another, much wittier way to say it.

Anyway... two updates, in less than a month! What an improvement, right? Now, doesn't this make up for that long hiatus I took? I'm sure it does! Hahaha.

Okay, so, I had to split this chapter into two parts since I didn't want to squish too much into it. But I did, however, pan out the rest of the story (yes, I wrote it down. It's official). I'm planning on making it about 11 chapters, 12 maximum.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If I recall correctly, this is the longest chapter to date? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it anyhow!

I'm sorry if it gets a bit confusing. I'm going to do some major explaining in the next chapters, I promise.

_Sincerely - _Schoe. :)

PS. As of today, I've been in fanfiction for a year! I guess this is my celebration. :) Haha, I didn't even notice before!


	9. Eight: God damnit!

_Boom-badoom-boom __Boom-badoom-boom __Boom-you got this disclaimer!_

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CHAPTER EIGHT.

* * *

**God damnit!**

I swear on the River of Styx. Sometimes, I really _hate_ being a fucking demigod.

Right now, I don't know whether I'm dreaming or not, since I'm back in the Underworld. Seeing as I'm used to being surrounded by dead people and monsters constantly, it didn't really come as a shock to me. The only emotion that I feel is confusion.

I'm sitting down in the middle of a tiny hill overlooking the River of Lethe, digging my palms in the unevenly cut grass. I see the random silhouettes of several dead people roaming around, but they make sure they skirted around the river.

I laugh as I see one of the ghosts accidentally slip and dunk a toe – just _one_ toe, in the river, and look around without a clue in the world. He's dead _and_ has amnesia. And now he doesn't know whether he has to go to the Fields of Punishment, Asphodel, or Elysium.

This happens about five times per year.

I _told_ my dad to give these ghosts a map, but did he listen?

The ghost, already as confused as he was, starts making his way towards the Fields of Punishment. He's an earnest looking old man, with a balding head and tiny spectacles that rested on the very tip of his nose. He looked absolutely harmless, and somehow reminded me of those doting grandfathers who rambled on and on about their childhood stories. I panic. He's not supposed to go there!

"HEY! YOU! OLD MAN!" I shout to him as loud as I can, but he doesn't even acknowledge me. In fact, nobody does, not even the ghosts just a few meters away from me.

"Damn it," I curse as I sit back down moodily. I _am_ dreaming after all.

I turn away from the old man, not wanting to see him walk literally go to hell. My dad may be the King of the Dead, but I was born with a heart.

"If you don't watch out, _that_ could be _you_."

I jerk my head to the direction of the voice, but no one is there. That voice was nearby. I know it.

"Over here." I see a hand being waved in front of my face. I turn my head and see, yet again, the beaming face of Apollo in _another_ one of my dreams.

"Moved on from sending me to nothingness, eh?" I cock an eyebrow and stare at him.

He chuckles.

"What're you trying to tell me _this_ time?" I demand.

He smirks. "Just watch."

"Watch? Watch what –" but I shut up midway through my sentence as I notice this extremely muscular fellow with a leather jacket about a size too small stooping down beside the river.

I look at Apollo, who looks as if he's enjoying this whole charade. Honestly, he treats everything like it's some really bad sitcom, filled with someone's really sick idea of a joke, or something just extremely unfunny altogether – but this dude ends up in hysterics anyway.

I, on the other hand, am torn between worrying that this guy might fall right into the river and end up like that unfortunate old man from before, who unknowingly walked into eternal doom, and being confused about the nagging feeling of déjà-vu I get whenever I look at him.

I move in closer, and look back at Apollo who, instead of stopping me, coaxes me to go on. When I turn back round, I see that the guy – I don't know if he's one those abnormally and unhealthily curious people, or just downright stupid – actually _reaching_ into the river.

"Hey, don't, _stop_!" But of course, since I'm just the luckiest demigod to be born on this damn planet, he can't hear me since I'm just some manifestation of myself during my subconscious, dreaming state.

I run over to him – close enough so I can see what he's up to, but far enough that I don't slip and accidentally plunge into the river. I see that he's attached actually holding this metal rod, which, at the end, has a tiny loop where a glass vial seemed to be attached.

Oh, my unholy father! He's taking water from the River Lethe!

I could only guess for what purposes he was going to use it for, but, Gods, imagine that kind of power in the wrong hands . . .

I continue to watch him. He carefully retracts the rod and sets the glass vial now filled to the brim with Lethe water on the ground. He covers the vial, and then takes out yet another precaution (this guy really planned this out carefully), which is a pair of tongs he uses to slip the vial out of the metal loop. When the vial is on the ground, he brings out a piece of cloth and wraps it around it. Only when he begins to use the cloth to wipe out the excess water do I realize that he's actually wearing gloves. Oh, and, I also realize that he's actually a ghost.

Now, what in the Underworld would compel a ghost to retrieve water from the River Lethe? No clue. He's dead, after all. He doesn't have much options left, and stealing water from the Lethe is certainly not one of them.

Not that stealing water from the Lethe is illegal. There's no rule against and or about it. I mean; there isn't that many people bonkers enough to actually attempt it.

Still, this guy . . . he was so concise with the whole process, I'm sure this wasn't the first time he's done it.

I'm pulled out of my reverie when someone passes by, well, no, it could've been through me, but I was in a daze. Anyway, the aforementioned person approaches Mr. Lethe-Stealer. They were wearing a (very sinister) hooded cloak and talked in whispered voices.

I creep closer to them to hear their conversation.

"I don't understand why you're doing this," Mr. Lethe-Stealer says. "You could just kill him and get it over with. He deserves it."

"No – he doesn't. You're just angry because one of his ghosts killed you." The hooded figure, as it turns out, is actually girl (well, judging by the voice. It _could_ just be a boy who hasn't gone through puberty yet).

"And killing me doesn't warrant him deserving of receiving the same fate?" Lethe-Stealer spits.

"You attacked first. You were for the enemy side. _We_ were for the enemy side. He was just protecting everyone else."

"Alright, I regret it now, but still. Just slit his throat while he's asleep. Easy-peasy."

"No, definitely not 'easy-peasy!' I can't just kill him, Derrick!"

"Yeah, and wiping his memory clean will make him love you back? I didn't think you were so naïve." He rolls his eyes.

I see her fists clench. "Just give me that!" she grabs the vial from Lethe-Stealer's (who's name is apparently 'Derrick') grasp.

"Hey, careful with that! You don't want to be reckless with that thing!" He hisses.

"Yeah, whatever." She takes out a bag and drops the vial into it, and replaces it in her pocket. "Goodbye, Derrick, may you rest in peace."

"Amen." He nods.

She turns around and I almost stop breathing from the shock. I only see a slither of her face, but that slither was enough.

The truth dawns on me.

I saw Derrick in a dream before.

The same dream I first saw Allison in.

They were talking about me.

Derrick wanted me dead.

I _killed_ Derrick.

Somebody, please, just shoot me now.

And with that, I feel a sharp-shooting pain on my chest and I jolt awake.

I'm back inside the tent, but not the part of the tent I remember. I seem to have been flung all the way to the opposite side. That's not what surprised me the most, though.

In front of me, Thalia was holding a dagger to Allison's throat. Allison, who was turning out to be crazier and crazier by the second, had a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.

"Good morning, sunshine." I croak.

They both shoot daggers at my direction.

"I just wanted to ask one _teensy-weensy_ question." I laugh nervously. "What the hell's going on?" I didn't mean to shout it. I'm just under an inordinate amount of stress right now.

Allison begins to cackle, and Thalia moves the dagger a few centimeters closer to her throat. "I woke up thinking the exact same thing," she says.

My eyes move to her hand, which has a glass vial wrapped around her fingers, though I have no idea whether it's empty or not. My dream comes rushing back to me.

"You." I point, jumping up in my anger and disbelief. "Why are you trying to wipe my memories clean?"

Thalia looks at me with a look of incredulity and confusion, but Allison just laughs. A laugh so mirthless it sends shivers down my spine.

"How did you find out about that?" she asks, clearly amused despite how things had turned out for her.

"Don't try to change the subject," I spit. "You're out for blood – _my_ blood."

"Sweetie." I cringe at her referral. "I took all precautions so that I didn't have to kill you, but if you continue being difficult, I'd eventually have to."

"Look, lady," I say, taking a risky step closer to the pair of Hunters. "I don't know how you're able to go back and forth from the Underworld so easily, but if you step foot on my territory one more time, I'll throw you into the River Lethe."

She laughs, and laughs, and _laughs_. "You're extremely funny, do you know that? It's one of the reasons why I fell in love with you."

Thalia flinches and I'm afraid that she might just plunge the knife right into Allison's throat, but she doesn't.

"Okay, so you're in love me," I repeat the words, making sure to eye Thalia's reaction as I did. I _told_ her this Allison chick had the hots for me, but did she believe me? She cringes a bit, but remains stoic, more or less. "Haha, that's funny, because I don't know anyone who tries to inflict harm on the person they love. Well, except my dad, but he's a whole different story."

She smiles. And I snap.

"You better start explaining, you sadistic bitch." I feel my anger seething. "Or else I'm killing you."

"Oh, but you could never do that," she says, but there's a twinge of fear in her words.

"You're trying to kill me, might as well play your stupid little game," I say. "Then you and your brother can be together again."

I know that was a cruel thing to say, but she deserved it.

"You –" she attempted to lunge forward, but the threat of the knife into her throat stopped her. "He can't rest in peace because of you, do you know that?"

I start feeling sympathetic for this neurotic pair, even if it's just a little bit. "I didn't mean to kill him. There was a point where the ghosts went out of control."

She eased a bit. "I know you didn't. That's why I never tried to kill you."

"But trying to wipe my memories? Why in the world –"

"Because I love you," she says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"You know, no matter how many times I've heard it, I still don't get it." I chuckle nervously.

Damn. I could cut the tension in this tent with a knife.

"To make you forget everything," she says. When Thalia's head turns to me, Allison mouths, "So you can forget _her_," her eyes flickering towards Thalia. She forces an expressionless face when Thalia turns back to her.

I'm at a loss for words.

"I figured I could take care of you. We could've started a new life together," she says with so much desire it scared me.

Honestly, she made it sound like we were going to get married.

No way in _hell_ that was going to happen. Nope.

"But, why do you love me?" I ask her.

She contemplates before answering me. "Because you were different," she says. I stare at her, urging her to say more. "During the war my brother and I, mere sons of Nemesis, were working for the enemy. Several of us Nemesis children were. Our mother was overlooked, and our mother overlooked us. We wanted redemption," she pauses before continuing. "I was hurt in the middle of the battle. Nobody helped me. Nobody even gave me a second look. I was almost trampled by a herd of giants when one of your ghosts saved me and gave me ambrosia for my wounds. After that, I refused to do Kronos' bidding and attempted to go over to your side. At just the sight of me, however, your teammates attacked me. That was when you, to whom I already owed my life to, grabbed me and flung me aside, and ordered your ghosts to take care of me. I'm not sure if you remember, but I can never forget."

I sit down on the floor unable to stand any longer. The whole tent is silent.

Just to add to the already overlapping awkwardness of the situation, Allison adds, "You could never love me, though. You only had eyes," she glances at Thalia, "for her."

I look everywhere except at Thalia.

Funnily enough, I start to realize that I'm still wearing only boxers. I had left my clothes back in the forest.

I have no idea at which point in time I began to stop caring that I was half-naked.

I guess the gravity of the whole situation with Allison was just too much to handle, especially all in one sitting. It's like trying to eat twenty pies in one go.

Despite the tension off the moment, Thalia relaxes a bit. I see her shoulders slump in ease.

Big mistake.

At that moment, Allison lunges foreward and tries to take the knife from Thalia.

I trap her to the ground with a shadow as I pull Thalia away from her.

She starts to struggle against the shadow, and just to scare her; I make it so she starts to sink a little bit more with each movement, kinda like quicksand. She eventually realizes and stays still.

Thalia starts to laugh as she reaches for her knife and pockets it.

"Now why are _you_ laughing?" I complain.

"This is all just so odd," she says. She looks at me, eyeing me up and down, and I suddenly get very self-conscious that I'm nearly naked. And then she glances at Allison, who's frozen like a statue and looks as if she had passed out. I don't ease up on her though – my shadows are staying firmer than ever.

I whisper into Thalia's ear. "I told you she had the hots for me."

"Shut up, you shouldn't be taking any of this as lightly as you are," she snaps.

"You're just angry because _I'm_ right and _you're_ wrong," I josh.

"You shouldn't be gloating," she says. "If it weren't for me, you'd be dead."

"Wait – what?"

"If I hadn't come in here and saw her pinning you down with her hands on your throat, she would've strangled you to death."

I tighten the shadows around Allison.

"You said you weren't trying to kill me!" I shout. "I thought you were just going to wipe my memory!"

"I told you I'd kill you if I had no other options," she says. "I'm out of Lethe water."

"And _killing me_ was the only option you fucking had left?" I practically scream.

She remains quiet.

My life is a living hell.

"Why didn't you say so a while ago?" I shout frantically, not knowing to whom I was shouting it to. "You know what – never mind."

I move over to a corner of the tent, and sit down there moodily. Thalia follows me and sits beside me, and I don't know whether I'm happy about her concern or not. I'm honestly not in the mood for human interaction.

"Not so smug now, eh?" she teases.

"Yeah, well, shut up," I say. "I'm calling it even."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night . . . " she winks.

"Yeah, well, no matter what I do, I never get decent shut eye anymore. Something always ruins it for me."

"Did you dream again?" her eyes widen.

"I think Apollo's taken a liking to me. He seriously enjoys my anguish." I smile bitterly.

"Don't all the gods?" she says.

"I didn't think all the gods liked my suffering," I scoff.

"Oh, no! I didn't mean they all like _you_ suffering, I meant, they enjoy all our suffering _in general_!" she panics.

I remain silent. I pinch my arm to stop myself from laughing as I watched her have a panic attack.

"Okay, Thals, calm down, I know you didn't mean it," I say, taking both her shoulders in my hands and looking her in the eyes.

She sighs and begins laughing. "Nico, you stress me out way too much."

"Ah, I see you've decided to use my first name," I say matter-of-factly.

She shakes her head amidst her laughter.

And at that moment, I almost forget everything that's happening. I even forget that Allison's even here. I wish that this could last forever.

But, of course, you almost never get what you wish for.

"Thalia, are you in here?"

At the sound of Artemis' voice, Thalia jumps up and distances herself from me. Artemis enters the tent. I stand up in surprise as I feel her presence radiating everywhere.

But she doesn't look at me, or Thalia. She's look at Allison's direction, her eyes wide with shock.

"Allison?" she croaks. "Why are you here –"

I look at Allison, and I realize that I accidentally released my bonds around her. But it's too late. She looks at Artemis and she smirks, and within seconds she jumps on me (who is, unfortunately, still only in my boxers. Gods, kill me now, Artemis has seen me in my boxers) and kisses me full on the lips.

Needless to say, Artemis won't be a very happy camper.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Ah, yes, the disclaimer is my very sad attempt to spoof "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj and make it my disclaimer 'cause I couldn't think of another, more creative way to do it.

Just a few more chapters and I can finally say that this story is "Complete!"

I'm still contemplating whether I should have an Epilogue or not. I have an idea for it, but I'm still deciding. It all just depends, really.

I know Allison is a bit crazy, but it adds spice, doesn't it?

From - Schoe :)


	10. Nine: Thalia

_For what should be the tenth time already, "No, I do not own Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, or any of the characters in the Percy Jackson series."_

* * *

*Note: This chapter was written in **Thalia's POV**.

* * *

CHAPTER NINE.

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_**Thalia**_

"Oh dear gods," I spout out before I'm even aware of it. I want to cover my eyes and shield myself from the scene before me, and _especially_ for I what I _know_ is coming next, but I find myself glued to the ground, as frozen as a statue.

After maybe two seconds, or even three, something in Nico's brain finally seems to click and he (recklessly) pushes Allison off him, trapping her feet in another shadow and creating a larger distance in between them.

He looks up at me, but his gaze is immediately averted to the little girl beside me, her eyes wide. Lady Artemis is so much in shock that she's let a strand of auburn hair stray from her ponytail and fall messily on her face.

"Oh dear gods," I mutter to myself more urgently.

Lady Artemis and I seem to regain control over our body at the same time, and I sprint as fast as I can towards Nico as she begins to stride across the tent. Ripping a hole through the nearest part of the tent, I drag him out and make for the forest.

We only have so much time, because Lady Artemis knows the forest more than any of us, so we can't avoid her forever.

I jump on top of the roots, and change direction every few minutes to make our tracks harder to follow. I leave Nico at a hidden spot wedged in between two trees so I can make another set of tracks to confuse them. I regret leaving Nico all alone without a single word of explanation, but we had to work as fast as possible. Even a split-second wasted could cost his life.

Holy Zeus, Holy Zeus, _Holy Zeus_.

The gravity of the situation just keeps getting heavier and heavier each time I think about it.

I play back the series of events in my head trying to make sense of it all.

1. Nico and I have been communicating through dreams = which wasn't a very good idea, and extremely reckless and unwise on my part.

2. Despite knowing that he would most likely be idiotic enough to look for me, I told him I was in Arizona = which almost killed him.

3. I asked Lady Artemis to let me take care of him while he was healing = which was probably my _worst_ idea yet, especially because Nico almost lost all his memories and almost got strangled to death by a maniacal going-to-be-ex-Hunter who's apparently in love with him (whom I'm also hoping got turned into an aardvark by Artemis after we left) and – despite taking an oath and the fact that she was openly breaking it in front of Lady Artemis – kissed him in front of the one goddess who has very little patience and pity for men, ensuring Nico's death even further.

Nope. Nada. Not at all – none of it makes sense at all.

Honestly, someone should've given me a heads-up.

It's too bad life doesn't _work_ that way.

When I return to Nico, I find him (however still wedged in between the two trees) performing a shadow play of the turtle and hare race. I raise my eyebrows. Leave it to Nico to create shadow plays when his life is in jeopardy. I shoot an arrow at his direction, aiming it on the tree closest to his head, where it lands just a few centimeters from him. He looks up at me, and the shadows immediately sink bank into the ground.

"Nico, will you _focus_!" I smack him upright the head and yank him out from in between the two trees. "If Lady Artemis finds you she will _kill_ you."

"Or turn me into a jackalope," Nico grins.

I stare at him stone-faced. Is he being serious?

"Sorry, not the time for jokes." He rubs the back of his neck nervously and avoids my gaze.

"You _think_?" I spit.

Before Nico can open his mouth and spout out more nonsense, we hear a rumbling in the bushes behind us. I spin around and take out my spear and Aegis, standing as close to Nico – who was still in just his boxers, comically enough – as possible.

A shadow emerges from the bush and rushes towards us.

I elbow Nico, who's behind me. "Nico, didn't we just establish that this _isn't_ time time for jokes?" I snap.

"That isn't me," Nico says, panicking creeping into his voice.

My guard is back up. I point my spear at the shadow ready to attack, and edge Aegis closer to Nico and me, hoping that it was big and strong enough to protect both of us. When the shadow makes a swift movement towards us, I impulsively zap it with my spear.

What happens next is even more shocking than my spear.

Mrs. O'Leary pops up from the ground, with Percy on her back, his hair smoking.

"It's nice to see you too, Thalia," Percy says, feeling the top of his head and rubbing the singed strands gently.

"What do you think you're doing? Is your brain really made of seaweed? You scared us half-to-death!" I shout.

"Well, I'm half-death," Nico jokes.

I twist my spear and hit him in the head, zapping him like I did Percy. I_ told_ him it wasn't the time for jokes.

"What're you doing here?" I turn my attention back to Percy.

He points to the idiot behind me. "I'm here for him."

Mrs. O'Leary wags her tail and barks excitedly.

"Shhhh, shhhh!" I rush towards Mrs. O'Leary and try to calm her down. "If Lady Artemis finds us, Nico'll be a goner, and there'll be nothing left of him to bring back."

"That's _precisely_ why I'm here," Percy says as he walks toward me. He scratches a spot behind Mrs. O'Leary's ear and she falls right asleep.

"Hey, what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Nico whines. "I can take care of myself!"

"Thalia, how many times has Nico almost died in the past month?" Percy addresses me, his voice calm and nonchalant.

"From what I know, about three times, but I can't be too sure with him. It's Nico after all, he's _half-death,"_ I say, mocking Nico by parroting his earlier joke.

"I'm sure both of you are saying this because you know I can hear you." Nico rolls his eyes.

"Oh, sorry Nico, did you say something? We _completely forgot _you were there." Percy winks at me.

Nico scowls at Percy at first, and then he breaks into a grin that's completely priceless. His smile is the type that lights up the entire room and makes you feel bubbly from head to toe when you see it. It's so much like a child that his smile makes you feel nostalgic, and it's comforting.

I've been staring at Nico too long.

He's staring at me smugly.

Damn it.

I stand up and remember the urgency of the situation we're in, especially because there is a sudden burst of arrows surrounding us, some of them flaming.

"They've found us and marked where we are." I point to the smoke being emitted from the flaming arrows. "We've got about five seconds."

I shoot arrows as much arrows as possible towards in every direction I can in a second. This wasn't a very thought-out plan, especially since (being a Hunter and all) know that won't stall them too much.

I need to think of a plan.

Five.

Four.

My mind is going blank.

Three.

Two.

Oh no.

One.

The Hunters appear from every direction.

Percy uncaps Riptide, and luckily he bears the curse of Achilles – he won't be that easy to get rid off.

He slices at the arrows, even at some of the Hunters – only enough to stir up enough blood, but not so much that it's fatal – in an attempt to scare them away. But they're Hunters, they aren't afraid of much, and especially not a scrawny boy with singed-off hair.

Mrs. O'Leary bounds on some of them, and shadow traveling them to Zeus-knows-where before returning and taking another one with her. It's just too bad she can't move fast enough.

Nico steps forward, and traps the remaining Hunters in shadows. He looks up at me apologetically and takes another step forward.

He's not about to . . . no he _can't_ . . .

He releases the Hunters from their shadow-bonds.

He can't be handing himself over . . . no . . . this isn't happening . . .

Before I'm aware of what's happening, Percy runs and, gripping firmly onto my arm, he sprints over to Mrs. O'Leary, who's bitten Nico's bare leg. Percy grabs Mrs. O'Leary's collar. And then darkness, the nauseating and infuriating, stomach-twisting darkness, sucks us in.

"Why didn't we think of that in the _first_ place?" I shout as we land on our butts.

"Because we're geniuses," Percy replies sarcastically.

"Where are we?" Nico says, looking around, and he spots his clothes hanging on a nearby branch. "My clothes!" He jumps up and hastily puts them on.

"I was going to ask why Nico was running around half-naked," Percy said. "I thought it was a fashion statement."

"Ha-ha," Nico scoffs, now fully-clothed. He triumphantly slips on his favorite gray hoodie.

"We haven't got long until they find us again," I say. "We aren't that far from where we were, and not that deep in the forest either."

I walk over to them. "Go back to camp. I'll deal with Lady Artemis."

Nico grabs me by the shoulders and hugs me. Typical.

"Nico," I say, trying to push myself away from him, but he's a lot stronger than he looks. "Even if you ask me, I can't come with you."

"What if I don't ask you? What if I just kidnap you?" he says.

"I won't be kidnapped that easily." I pinch his ear and pull him away from me. He reluctantly lets go.

We hear the distant rumbling of the bushes, and the howling of wolves in the distance.

"I hate to break up this love-fest, but Nico, we gotta go," Percy says.

But Nico doesn't move.

"Nico di Angelo, you better leave right now or else I'm handing you in," I snap. I am still angry with him for nearly giving himself up to the Hunters. I imagine myself patting a small anteater wearing an old gray hoodie, using its elongated nose to create shadow plays while sucking in ants from a hill.

"Fine," Nico says as he walks over to Percy. His hands moodily grasp onto Mrs. O'Leary's collar. "But I _will_ find you again."

I shrug. "Next time, I won't let you find me." I will definitely not make the same mistake again, especially now that I know better.

An arrow zooms past me and lands into the river. I turn my attention back to the pair and nod at Percy.

He has to go now.

He will be safe that way.

I see them begin to sink into the shadows. I start to turn away when a hand grabs mine. I spin around and see Nico, half-way into the shadows, pleading me with his eyes, scrunched up eyebrows, and upturned lip.

I close my eyes and without thinking, I squeeze Nico's hand tighter.

What am I doing?

I feel the darkness suck me in.

I'm reckless, and I'm letting my feelings get in the way of my duty. But at the same time, I'm just a little girl, scared of the future, and scared of falling in and out of love.

Oh, how cheesy of me.

I take a deep breath and hold onto Nico tighter.

What am I doing?

And before I'm even aware of it, I feel myself letting go.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Special thanks to **1215 rascal** and especially **Fanfiction-Grey's Anatomy-1234** for suggesting that I write in Thalia's POV so you see how she's handling the entire situation! I miss writing as Thalia, so the measly opportunity I got to write as her was extremely enjoyable!

And oh my gosh! I can't believe I'm almost finished with this story! A chapter to go till the end! I can't believe it! :O

Thank you to those who have been reading this, be it from the beginning or not, your reviews, favorites, and story alerts are very much loved (especially your reviews)!

_Sincerely Yours_ - Schoe :)


	11. Ten: Nico

_For the last time, no, I do not own Nico, Thalia, or anything that has to do with the Percy Jackson series (but I do own a pair of socks with cartoons on it)._

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CHAPTER TEN.

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_**Nico**_

My eyes snap open and I sit up. I must've spazzed myself awake this morning, because I wake up on the floor with the covers thrown all over me. My labored and heavy breaths are drowned out by the sound of my heart beating it's ass off (I mean, if a heart had an ass . . . hypothetically speaking).

"Fucking _shit_," I shout as my hand collides with my face in a very intense and frustrated face-palm. "I fell for it _again_," I growl, my shouts reverberating within the confinements of Cabin #13.

Everything was just another _fucking_ dream, and me, being the biggest idiot ever born into this whole entire universe, believed every single part of it – with my entire being, might I add. I could've sworn my life that it was real. I could've sold my soul to Atlas and held the sky in his place. _That's_ how much I believed it – I would've stopped the sky from falling and crushing all our sorry faces into oblivion.

I was just about let out another throng of colorful curses when I noticed something strange – _extremely_ strange.

I toss off the covers and see that my clothes are still slightly wet and my pants are hanging dangerously loose around my waist – exposing my neon boxers that are seriously way too bright for my I'm-not-yet-that-ready-to-be-awake eyes.

Either I wet myself while I was sleeping and my pee was radioactive and stained my boxers an excruciating neon shade of yellow, or everything that happened _wasn't_ a dream after all.

"Holy shitballs of fire," I mutter. "You have _got_ to be kidding me!" I shout out of frustration.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, before you go thinking that this is stage one of denial regarding my supposedly very bad bladder control, just remember that with everything I've been through – what with having a frustratingly hard time differentiating between dreams and reality, especially when it came to dealing with Thalia and her damn hide-and-seek games – it was harder to take in that everything was _real_ rather than a dream.

It was a big change that was going to need some getting used to.

Unfortunately, that big of a change required time for a person to adjust into it, and I most certainly did _not_ have that much time.

I jump onto my feet and toss the covers back onto the bed, getting a whiff of what smelled suspiciously like an in-dire-need-off-a-bath Mrs. O'Leary (which convinced me that what happened was real even more) and strode out of my cabin before I could come up with more ridiculous theories about Mrs. O'Leary peeing on my bed, or something of that sort.

I run out off the cabin, hearing the door slam behind me as I practically jump the steps. Holding on to my pants as tightly as I can, I sprint for the Artemis cabin.

With one hand holding my pants up, I bang the other one on the door. I knock about seven times, and kick three, before I let out another cuss word and turn around to sprint for the Zeus cabin next.

I slam into the door before knocking on it five times, and then proceeding to kick it as hard as I can while shouting a sentence filled with so much curses I felt like Zeus was going to incinerate me right then and there for dirtying up his cabin with my sentence.

"I swear to the gods, this situation feels scarily familiar," I say to myself. "It's like experiencing déjà vu while drinking spoilt milk. Familiar, but makes my stomach all queasy."

I begin to walk away from the Zeus cabin, sneaking a peak at the towering white monument before sprinting once more.

I let out a big and heavy sigh.

Now, unlike the first time, my feet don't bring me to Percy's cabin. I run all the way to the forest. I only slow down when I feel the bushes hide me enough from unwanted eyes. After snapping off a nearby branch, I begin to hit everything in sight angrily – I start whacking the tree from whence the branch came, moodily poking at the bushes, stabbing at crunchy old leaves and stepping on them afterwards – every sort of forest-related abuse that doesn't involve fire or a chainsaw but a deadly tree branch with about five leaves on it instead. You name it; I did it.

Still feeling pretty horrible and sorry-for-myself, I start to step on the crunchy dead leaves on the ground. I didn't know when, or how, but the crunchy noise and the feeling of the leaves breaking under my foot started to become addictive, and I start to jump up and down, crushing as many leaves in a pile as I can.

_Crunch._ That was for popping into my dreams to just to mess with me.

_Crunch-crunch._ That was for all the times you left without saying goodbye.

_Cruuuuuunch._ That was for all the times I almost died because of you.

_CRUNCH._ Ha, now I just imagined that was your face.

I _almost_ forget that I was moping when I jump on an abnormally hard pile of leaves and fall with my face flat on the floor.

"What did I jump on, a rock?" I say, and – yes, you guessed it – cussing a bit in between.

"Gods, Nico," an obnoxious voice spits at me. "Do I look like a rock to you?" the voice snaps.

A figure all covered with old leaves emerges from the ground, electric blue eyes staring at me beneath the layers and layers of dead leaves.

"No," I say absentmindedly. "You look more like a swamp monster."

I take a leaf in my hand and break it.

_Crunch._ That was for doing it all over again.

Thalia shakes off the leaves and attempts to rake the leaves out of her hair. She raises her eyebrows at me and punches my arm, and to my surprise, she doesn't shock me.

"That's for stepping on me," she says.

I punch her back, really lightly and emotionlessly. "That's for all the shit you put me through." I stand up and begin to walk away, hearing the very familiar crunching of the leaves under my feet.

"Nico –"

"_What?_" I turn on my heel and shout at her.

"I –"

"Why did you do it?" I ask her.

"What do you –"

"Why did you take my hand when you were going to let go anyway?"

"Nico, it's not –"

"Well, I'm _done_ trying. I won't let you under my skin anymore," I snap.

"Di Angelo, will you just –"

"Have a nice life, Thalia," I start to turn back around when Thalia storms up to me.

"Nico di Angelo, will you _please_ just let me explain?" she says, taking me by the wrist.

"Why should I when you didn't do anything but play me like your little boy-toy?" I snap. "I bet you had the time of your life toying with –"

_BAM._

My eyes widen and I feel the tears rushing into my face. I try to blink it away to clear my vision. Thalia just slapped me, shocking me more than she has ever done.

I think it was my jaw's turn to go _crunch_.

"You're a fucker, Nico di Angelo," she tells me. "Can you blame me for being afraid?"

I don't reply. I slowly turn my head to face her. She's shaking out of anger, and blinking away the tears as well.

"All my life, everyone I cared about was taken away from me. Can you really blame me for just trying to protect myself from being hurt again?"

"I wasn't going to hurt you," I mumble.

"How could I have been so sure?" she cries. "That's what they all told me, but they left anyway."

And for a while, we're just staring at each other in complete silence, blinking away our tears, trying to hide our emotions. It's always been like this with the two of us – trying to one-up each other constantly and ending up getting ourselves in trouble along the way.

Do I really want to stay in this same rut forever?

I see her start to relax, and I let out a sigh.

We still remain silent.

Honestly, what do I say to that?

"Besides," Thalia mutters finally.

"Hm?" I say.

"It was an accident," she shifts her gaze and stomps on a nearby leaf on the ground.

"Which was?" I say, mimicking her movements and crunch three leaves in one step.

"I didn't mean to let go," she says, sounding accusatory near the end. I'm guessing that's one of those defense mechanisms she was talking about – her instinct to protect herself from vulnerability.

She sighs before continuing. "It was an accident. My hand kinda just slipped. I didn't mean to let go –"

I take her in my arms before she can finish her sentence. I bury my face in her hair.

Yup, I wouldn't mind staying in this rut a little bit longer.

"You're an idiot, d'you know that?" I whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry," she mutters almost inaudibly.

"Thalia Grace," I say, breaking apart from the hug. I stare at her, my hands on her shoulders. "Did I just hear you apologize?"

"Yeah, don't get used to it," she scoffs.

I hug her again, holding her even tighter.

"I love you too, by the way," she whispers in my ear, her breath cold against my skin. "But you're still an idiot."

I chuckle, kissing her forehead.

Damn. She plays me so well.

But it's all right.

I play her pretty well too.

* * *

**REVIEW!**

Ohmygarsh, I can't believe it, that was the last chapter! After practically a year, I was able to finish this story. Whooo, I still can't believe it! A big thank you to everyone who pestered me and nagged me to finish this, and to everyone who supported this story; be it from the beginning, or not, you're still pretty dang wonderful!

This final chapter (sadly) wasn't as long as the others, but at least it was longer than the prologue, so that's a plus! :) Gaaaaargh, I really don't know what to say, I really can't believe this story's finally completed, it's INSANE.

This is such an awkward final author's note, I'm so sorry. But, please, REVIEW! :)

I really tried to end the story with this chapter, so yup :) Hehehe. Also, I wanted to give Thalia and Nico a break. I've made them suffer way too much. Haha!

_So Contagiously Yours_ - Schoe B!


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